Descent into Darkness
by EbonyVergil
Summary: Beastboy wakes up to find himself in a twisted version of Jump City. As he tries to find his friends and a way out, he will come face to face with emotions he thought he had buried and his very sanity will be tested. Will he rise to the occasion? Or will this warped version of his home drown him in darkness?
1. Strange surroundings

**A/N: takes place after Tokyo and the cartoon series. The Titans are all around 19ish.**

* * *

Pain. That was the first thing Beastboy felt as consciousness returned to him. A terrible pain that originated from his sternum, with a groan the green Titan opened his eyes. He drank in the sight of Jump City's most populated beach, except right now there was not a single soul in sight. What was he doing here? his mind was still reeling and his memory was foggy.

Slowly Beastboy rose to his feet, the waves had washed over him repeatedly while he had been unconscious and now his uniform was soaked. Looking around he noticed that the streets, vehicles and buildings seemed...off somehow. They were slightly blurry and seemed bent or warped. The sky also seemed a weird shade of blue. The changeling shook his head, maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him still.

He took a step forward and immediately doubled over in pain. His chest felt like it was on fire and he looked down to examine his chest to look for the wound. The torso area of his uniform was stained with blood, right around his right pectoral, had he been stabbed? he couldn't remember.

Regardless, Beastboy knew he needed medical attention, he had to contact his teammates. Raven would probably be able to fix him up, good old Raven, she always complained and called him an idiot when she healed him, but she never once refused. The girl was a big softie underneath her cold exterior. As the emerald-skinned superhero reached for the communicator in his belt, he realized with great alarm that his belt was gone. Frantically he searched his surroundings for it, but all he saw was sand and water, did it get washed away with the waves?

His search was interrupted when he spotted a couple walking on the boardwalk forty feet in front of him. They were in their thirties it looked like, the man was of average build, tall with short blonde hair and the woman was short and slender with brown hair that went to her shoulders. They were dressed in casual street clothes, but that's not what held Beastboy's gaze, what grabbed his attention were their faces, the changeling's eyes widened with shock as he recognized them.

"Mom...? Dad...?" He whispered quietly to himself, there was no mistaking it, they were indeed his parents. Mark and Marie Logan, the ones who created the serum that saved his life and gave him his morphing powers. As he watched, his parents started to exit the boardwalk, heading deeper into the city, they looked like they were having a pleasant conversation.

"Wait!" Beastboy called out, taking a few hurried steps before the pain in his chest spiked. The jade Titan grunted, clutching his chest tightly with his right hand. "Mom! Dad! Wait up!" Angrily he shrugged off the pain in his chest and ran after his parents. As he reached the boardwalk he realized that they were no longer there.

Beastboy desperately looked around, trying to catch sight of them. Eventually he was successful, watching them cross a street and head into the city's business district. Once again the changeling called out to them, but they didn't seem to hear him, he had to get closer...

As he started to cross the street, movement to his left caught his eye. Something big was headed his way, and it was moving fast. Adrenaline began flowing through his veins and with cat-like reflexes the emerald-skinned morphling leapt to his right. A second later, something heavy crashed into the ground he was just at, cracking the concrete in a ten foot radius around it and shooting up a cloud of grey dust.

Beastboy waited for the dust to settle to identify what just almost crushed him. Once the dust cleared and he got a good look at the thing his eyes narrowed. Standing in front of him, clad in his red and grey battlesuit, was Adonis. The narcissistic villain stood to his full height and smirked at him.

"Where do you think you're going little man?" Adonis taunted, the changeling glared.

"I don't have time for your crap Adorkus, move it." Beastboy demanded, the villain chuckled in response.

"What? trying to have a happy reunion with your mommy and daddy?" Adonis mockingly questioned. "Well let me tell you wimp, it ain't going to happen, not when I'm around." Beastboy was shocked, how did Adonis know the couple was his parents? The villain smirked at his silent question. "Oh we know all about you...Garfield!"

"Who told you all of this!?" Beastboy inquired, eyeing him suspiciously "And what do you mean by 'we'?"

"That's the least of your worries right now twigboy! I'm about to crush you like an ant!" Adonis boasted, flexing the mechanical muscles of his battlesuit. Beastboy frowned and prepared to morph into a tiger, he had to catch up with his parents, he'd just have to waste Adonis really quick.

Something went wrong when he tried to morph however, as his body tried to shift into a new form, pain exploded once more in his chest. The green-skinned Titan fell to his knees, his right hand clutching his chest tightly. Why couldn't he transform? His chest wound shouldn't prevent his morphing, so what was wrong with him?

Adonis raised his left hand high and brought it down like a hammer. Quickly Beastboy rolled to his left, the villain's mechanical fist smashing so close to his body he could feel the wind from the blow. Adonis then brought his right foot up, intending to step on the small changeling. Beastboy saw this and immediately dove under the space between the ground and the villain's right leg. Once again, Adonis' attack succeeded in only hitting concrete.

Beastboy turned his dive into a roll, as soon as he was standing again he dashed for the battlesuit-wearing villain's exposed back. The changeling ran up his spine, crouched onto Adonis' shoulders, steadied himself by gripping the villain's left collarbone with his left hand and raising his right fist, preparing to hit the narcissistic man's face. Without his powers, Beastboy had no choice but to go for Adonis' only weak spot, his exposed face.

The changeling's plan went awry however, when Adonis swiftly reached back with his right hand and gripped the material between the shoulderblades of Beastboy's costume. The battlesuit-clad villain proceeded to peel the emerald-skinned Titan off his back and toss him roughly to the ground in front of him. Beastboy landed hard on his left shoulder, bounced once and landed on his back this time, sliding a small distance further. Adonis stood tall, striking an arrogant pose with his hands on his hips.

"What's the matter wuss? why don't you try using your stupid animal forms?" Adonis taunted, charging at the morphling once more. Beastboy snarled in frustration as he managed to get up to one knee. He wouldn't be able to get back up in time to dodge, in desperation, the green superhero threw his forearms out in front of him in a cross formation.

Beastboy felt his arms go numb as Adonis slammed his left foot into his raised forearms. The force of the impact, enhanced by the villain's battlesuit, sent Beastboy flying back a good twenty five feet. The changeling landed hard on his shoulderblades, sliding another seven feet before finally stopping.

The green Titan hastily moved into a sitting position, trying to get feeling back into his arms as fast as possible. Things weren't looking good, his powers were still not working and Adonis was preparing another attack. Beastboy was not about to give up though, he was going to catch up to his parents if he had to drag himself to them.

Adonis raised both of his fists overhead and then slammed them onto the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that tore up the street as it headed towards the emerald morphling. Beastboy rose to his feet and tried to leap out of the shockwave's path. He was too slow however, and the concrete beneath him gave way, revealing a hole about six feet in diameter.

Desperately Beastboy flailed his arms about, trying to find purchase with anything before falling into the hole. He did not want to fall into sewer water, it was one of the nastiest things ever, right up there with getting slimed by Plasmus. Fortunately his right hand found purchase with some solid concrete, he hung there like fruit from a branch. Small pieces of the street were still falling in from the edges of the hole Adonis had made and a small fist-sized piece of concrete fell into Beastboy's left hand. He was mildly surprised and was about to toss it away when a plan formed in his head.

As the changeling tried to pull himself back up to the street, an armored red foot stepped down hard on his right hand. Beastboy cried out in agony, but stubbornly hung on. Adonis smirked at the green superhero's predicament.

"You always were a pushover without your friends wuss." Adonis taunted, adding pressure to the foot standing on the emerald Titan's hand. Beastboy grit his teeth to cope with the wave of pain that washed over his hand and fingers.

As hard as he could, Beastboy brought his left hand forward and tossed the piece of concrete right at Adonis' face. The projectile nailed the narcissistic villain right between the eyes, he grunted in pain, backpedaling away from the hole's edge as he brought his hands to his hurt face. Quickly, the changeling clambered up the lip of the hole, dashing towards the staggering Adonis.

Gathering his legs beneath him, Beastboy leapt forward, landing on the chest of Adonis' battlesuit. With his left hand, the green Titan pulled on the arrogant villain's right hand as hard as he could. He managed to actually remove Adonis' right hand from his face with a great amount of effort.

The arrogant villain's right eye widened in shock as Beastboy brought his right fist forward with all the strength he could muster. He slammed his fist into Adonis' eye and the villain lost his balance and toppled over. Beastboy was still crouched on his chest and he reared his right hand back for another swing.

"Who's the pushover now!?" He shouted in Adonis' face bringing his fist down again, this time hitting the narcissistic villain's nose, the changeling felt the nose give and heard the cartilage snap. Rage fueled him and he punched Adonis' face repeatedly until the villain could only give a weak groan of protest.

Finally after a few moments, Beastboy ceased trying to turn Adonis' face into hamburger, breathing heavily. Beads of sweat rolled off the changeling's face to drip onto Adonis' battlesuit. Suddenly, the villain's face caught on fire and the emerald-skinned Titan leapt off of him in surprise, landing on his feet a short distance away.

Beastboy watched mesmerized as the flames from Adonis' face spread to his entire body and just as quickly as they had come, the flames vanished, leaving behind nothing but ashes. The wind picked up and the ashes drifted into the sky, leaving behind a small red orb of light where Adonis' body used to lay. Before the changeling could try to decipher what he just saw, the orb suddenly shot forward and hit him in the chest.

He expected pain, but found none, the orb glowed a bright red when it impacted his body and then vanished. Beastboy rubbed his torso, trying to find injuries, his mind racing. What the hell was going on? Was he dreaming? Realization came to the green Titan as the pain in his chest had been lessened, it was still there, but it wasn't as crippling and he felt...stronger.

Shrugging these thoughts aside for now, the green Titan continued his quest to find his parents. Leaving behind the shattered street that marked his battle with Adonis. Entering the business district he passed a coffee shop that Raven and him went to during one of their "Not-a-date" outings. He wasn't a coffee person, but he had to admit, even he enjoyed the beverage he had there. Maybe when he got out of this crazy place Raven and him could come again.

After a bit of running around, Beastboy finally caught sight of his parents again, they were walking right in front of the pizza shop he and his friends always frequented. The changeling took note of the lack of people, but filed it away in his mind for a later concern. Right now he just wanted to see his parents again.

"Dad! Mom!" He called out this time he was only a mere seven feet from them and this time they heard him. Mark and Marie Logan turned around and were greeted by the sight of their grown-up son, their eyes became as wide as saucers.

"G-Garfield?" His dad managed to say, Beastboy tried to speak, but he found the words were caught in his throat. He was so elated to see them again, even if he knew in his heart they were dead. After failing to do a verbal reply, the green Titan just smiled and nodded, tears welling up in the rims of his eyes.

Their response was not what he expected.

His mother began crying as well, but they weren't tears of joy, they were of despair. She collapsed to her knees, sobbing. His dad's face had become an unreadable mask, but Beastboy could see the pain in his eyes.

"What? What's wrong?" The changeling asked frantically, his father couldn't meet his gaze and his mother choked back a sob.

"Garfield...if you're here...then...you're dead!" She told him.


	2. A Way Out

"Dead? I can't be dead! There's so much stuff that I need to do!" Beastboy exclaimed, "I still need to buy a moped! Start a tofu movement! Become the coolest superhero since Batman!" Mark Logan shook his head sadly.

"It's true son, this is a place for the dead before they move on." His father stated, the green Titan thought for a moment.

"You mean like a purgatory?" He inquired, his father nodded.

"Something like that." Mark Logan answered, he frowned as he studied Beastboy for a moment. "Wait a minute, you aren't completely dead yet."

"Huh?" The changeling muttered dumbly, his mother stopped crying and looked at her husband.

"Mark, are you sure?" She asked, his father nodded, hope shining in his eyes.

"I'm positive." He said to her before turning his attention back to Beastboy. "Listen son, the fact that you are still living means you were forced here by supernatural means. Which means you might still be able to escape."

"How?" Beastboy inquired.

"There should be a portal of some sort, an entryway the person used to force you in here, look around you for a pillar of light, that should be the portal. Only you will be able to see it." His father explained, The emerald-skinned Titan looked around, but found nothing that matched his description. "Don't look in the usual places, this place doesn't abide by the rules of reality, it could be in the sky, on the side of a skyscraper or..."

"...The tower." Beastboy interrupted, gazing at the giant "T" off in the distance. The top of it had a pillar of light that shone like a beacon. The changeling mentally slapped himself for not noticing it earlier. His mother approached him and placed her hands on his shoulders firmly.

"You need to head to that pillar of light Garfield do you understand? It's your only chance!" She told him sternly, Beastboy felt himself frown.

"But, can't I just stay a little while? There's so much I want to tell you!" He protested, his father shook his head.

"Your mother's right son, the more time you spend here, the smaller your window of opportunity to escape will become. It's best that you leave as soon as possible." Mark Logan said to his son.

"But..." Beastboy tried again, he knew they were right, but he didn't want to leave just yet, not until he had a chance to say something. As if reading his mind, his mother smiled.

"We never blamed you for what happened to us on the boat, Garfield. That was our choice and we'd gladly do it again if it kept you safe." She informed him, the changeling felt a great burden disappear from his shoulders upon hearing those words.

"Never forget that we will always be proud of you son, and we will always live on in your heart." His father added, Beastboy felt his eyes grow wet, but he refused to cry. Marie gently pushed her son away from her.

"Now go Garfield, you must live." His mother said to him. Wiping his eyes to dry them, Beastboy nodded to his parents, his face set in determination.

"Thanks, mom, dad. I won't let you down." The changeling declared, turning to face away from them and heading to Titan's tower.

* * *

_One hour later_

Beastboy leaned heavily against the wall of a dilapidated building, breathing hard. Without his morphing powers he had to travel back to the tower on foot, and it was taking considerably longer than he originally thought. Mento would be shaking his head at him right now for letting his normal form get so out of shape, but then again he still had a bloody chest wound to contend with.

The changeling's lips curled downwards as he tried to remember how he got the wound in the first place. His mind was still a fog from when he first woke up and all he could remember were just bits and pieces. He closed his eyes and concentrated, hoping to sift through some of the memories to give him some idea of what happened.

* * *

_Images melded together in his brain, and he found himself staring at the endless ocean. Straight ahead of him and slightly to his right he saw the familiar blue cloak of Raven, her back was to him and she was knelt down on top of one of her black discs of energy. Someone was with her, a tall man, wearing black and blue, who was that? Upon closer inspection, Beastboy realized it was Aqualad, he was holding his right arm in pain, lying in front of Raven while the dark girl was trying to heal him._

_"It's okay Aqualad, I got you." She reassured him. Unfortunately the supervillain Trident had snuck up behind her, he broke the water's surface and threw the three-pronged spear he was named after at her, aiming for her spine._

_"Raven! Look out!" Beastboy heard his voice say and he found himself moving forward, into the trident's path. He felt himself diving out of the water, felt himself spread his arms wide._

_And then he felt the trident impale him through the back._

_He heard himself gasp and looked down, seeing the trident sticking out through his chest, blood flowing freely. Looking up he saw Raven, her back still to him, completely oblivious to what just happened. As the images began to grow dark and he sank back into the water he realized that despite all the struggles they endured together all the "Moments" they had shared, they meant nothing in the presence of Aqualad. She only had eyes for him._

_With that, the images faded from his mind's eye._

* * *

It felt like a knife was suddenly jabbed into his brain as Beastboy opened his eyes again, with a groan he cradled his head in his hands. So that's why he had the chest wound, after seeing those images in his mind the changeling was honestly surprised he wasn't dead yet. Did this mean that Trident had banished him to this weird place? Oh he was definitely going to give that fishhead a beating of a lifetime when he got out.

Still the thought that his noble sacrifice went completely unnoticed because the girl he liked had tunnel-visioned on the pretty boy bothered him. It bothered him a lot. It seemed that all the personality in the world couldn't make up for good looks. It was like trying to play videogames with no fingers, just an exercise in futility. Bitterness washed over the changeling, but he suppressed it.

Beastboy continued his long trek to the tower and after what seemed like forever he had finally reached the small section of water that separated the mainland from the island that housed Titan's tower. His home was definitely a sight for sore eyes, the pillar of light still glowed brightly from the top of the structure. He steeled himself, all he had to do was swim across and he was home free. The swim might be a little difficult due to his injury and the lack of morphing, but he was confident that he could endure.

As the green Titan was about to dive in however, a huge tidal wave rose up behind the Tower, almost dwarfing it. On top of that wave, stood a certain smirking aquatic Titan.

"Aqualad?" Beastboy said questioningly, the Atlantean's smirk grew.

"Sorry Beastboy, but you don't belong here anymore." Aqualad informed him and did a backwards somersault off of the huge tidal wave. The large body of water washed over the tower, which somehow remained unharmed. Beastboy only had time to let out one very loud curse before the wave crashed into him full force.

Then his world went dark.


	3. The Dread Dragon Appears

**A/N: Special thanks to the people who have reviewed, really helps keep me motivated.**

**EDIT 3/19/13: Whoops! made a double reference to the white tome, thanks for catching that Shadico.**

* * *

For the second time, Beastboy found himself waking up on a beach, face down in the sand, at least this time he wasn't soaked from the water. Obviously he wasn't in Jump City anymore. This time he was on a small island, water as far as the eye could see.

It took him a moment for him to completely regain his senses and when he did he wished he hadn't. His animal senses were going crazy because of all the unnatural things around him. For one, the water was as black as night and Beastboy had the distinct feeling that he did not want to jump in there. The sand he was lying in was dark-red in color, it was warm to the touch. Surprisingly, the few palm trees and vegetation on the island were bluish-green. The trunk of the trees was a dark-brown and the island itself seemed to only be slightly larger than the island the tower resided on.

"I'm getting really tired of waking up on beaches." Beastboy grumbled to no one in particular. To his surprise a voice answered him.

"Really? I find beaches quite relaxing." A cultured voice said in reply. Beastboy looked up to see a face he had only seen in one other place, in a book.

"You...aren't you...Malchior?" The changeling asked, the surprise on his face quickly hardened into a glare as he jumped to his feet and adopted a fighting stance. The dread dragon was in his human form, just as Beastboy saw it in the book, the same form of the one who had first cursed him, what was his name? Rabek? Rory? Wait no it was Rorek! Long white hair, blue eyes, grey armor with black clothes underneath and a black mask that covered the bottom half of his face and had two tails of fabric drifting in the wind. He was standing tall at the edge of the beach, where the sand became grass and led further into the island.

"I am indeed green one, and you are the one who annoys Raven all the time." He confirmed, Beastboy shot him an indignant glare.

"Hey! I only annoy her some of the time!" The green Titan shot back, offended, there was a moment of silence. "Okay most of the time, whatever." He added with a roll of his eyes. Realization suddenly came to Beastboy and he resumed his fighting stance. "Wait a second, you're supposed to be sealed in that book! How did you get out?"

"I haven't really escaped if that's what you're wondering." The dread dragon answered, crossing his arms across his chest. "But I'm sure you noticed by now that this isn't the mortal plane." The changeling took another look at the red sand and black water.

"Yeah I had a few hints." He admitted dryly.

"My true form may still be sealed in that cursed book, but that doesn't mean my spirit form can't still fly free." Malchior informed him, Beastboy snorted in disgust, he didn't like this guy. Never in his wildest dreams did the green Titan imagine that someone could be worse than Aqualad and yet here he was standing before him. At least the aquatic bastard never broke Raven's heart like this asshole did. To Beastboy that was unforgivable.

"Yeah? well we'll see how free you feel after I'm done with you!" The changeling boasted, dashing towards the white-haired man. The jade Titan closed the distance and tried to land a jump-kick on Malchior's face, but the disguised dread dragon merely sidestepped to his left and Beastboy passed harmlessly to his right.

Malchior's right hand glowed orange as he fired a magical blast of fire from his hand, nailing the emerald morphling square in the back while he was still in mid-air. Beastboy grunted in pain as the blast slammed him into dirt and grass. Malchior, turned and began walking towards him at a sedate pace.

"Is that all? I can't say I'm surprised. You always were the most insignificant of your group." The disguised dread dragon taunted. Beastboy groaned as he rose to his feet, his back still aching from the blast he took.

"This coming from a dragon who can't escape a book? Give me a break!" The emerald Titan snapped back, charging forward yet again. He leapt into the air once more and Malchior prepared to sidestep another jump-kick, but this time Beastboy somersaulted over the magic-using dragon, landing right behind him. Their backs to each other.

Both fighters turned clockwise swiftly, Beastboy bringing his right fist up in an uppercut while Malchior made a horizontal chopping motion with his right hand. The changeling was just a moment too slow as Malchior's right hand slammed into the right side of his face just before his fist could connect with the disguised dragon's jaw.

Beastboy felt his head jerk to the left, the blow was so powerful that a small amount of blood flew from his mouth. He twirled in the air a few times before gravity brought him back down. The emerald Titan slammed chest and stomach first onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He rose to his hands and knees, desperately trying to get air back into his lungs. Malchior continued his slow stalking pace towards the changeling.

"You're a weakling Beastboy, it's time you accepted that fact." The disguised dragon said to him, stopping just six feet from the green Titan. Beastboy responded by extending his left arm and opening his left hand, releasing the pile of dirt he had hidden there.

Malchior narrowed his eyes to try and avoid getting the dirt in his eyes and in that moment the jade Titan struck, or he tried to. As Beastboy was bringing his right hand forward in a vicious overhand right hook, the dread dragon extended his own right hand, slamming his palm into the changeling's sternum. Shock registered on Beastboy's face as the blow sent him flying straight back, this time the changeling landed hard on his spine.

"You've gotten this far in your life thanks to your family and friends." Malchior stated, walking up to the green Titan's supine form. The dread dragon reached down with his right hand and wrapped his fingers around Beastboy's throat, he then lifted him into the air. "But where are they now? When you need them the most?" The changeling gripped Malchior's right forearm with both of his hands, trying to pry himself free.

"They'll be here...just wait...and when they arrive we'll stuff you back in that damn book and throw it in the paper shredder." Beastboy replied, his voice straining because of Malchior's hand around his throat, the disguised dragon applied more pressure to the green superhero's throat and he let out a gasped choke.

"How naive." Malchior said in a cold tone. "Don't you remember? Your physical body sank into the ocean." His blue eyes narrowed. "No one knows where it is, not even Raven."

"Liar..." Beastboy managed to choke out, continuing to struggle in Malchior's grip.

"Ask yourself this Beastboy..." The dread dragon started. "...How long have you been in here? You were in the city for a good hour, how come no one found you?"

"Wasn't...the real...Jump City..." The changeling wheezed out, he could have sworn that the disguised dragon was smiling underneath his mask.

"Very good." Malchior complimented sarcastically. "Still, even if this place isn't natural, don't you think Raven with all of her abilities would have found it and saved you by now?"

Beastboy was about to retort, but he hesitated. Why hadn't Raven found him by now? Surely she must've sensed him near her at some point after he'd been stabbed by Trident. So why was he still here?

"She doesn't need you anymore." The dread dragon stated, "She has Aqualad now."

"Shut...up!" Beastboy angrily gasped out, he was beginning to feel lightheaded from Malchior's stranglehold on him. The disguised dragon produced a white tome in his left hand.

"Your friends have abandoned you. Which means you are at my mercy." Malchior declared, Deftly he opened the tome with his left hand. "Welcome to Hell." The dread dragon finished, the malice in his tone sent a cold chill down the changeling's spine. The tome began glowing with a red light before shooting a beam of red energy that hit the green Titan square in the chest. Beastboy felt fire course through every cell in his body.

And he howled in torment.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find him?" A very angry Raven hissed. Aqualad emerged from the waters at the shore of Jump City Beach, walking up to the Titans with strong, confident steps. He shook his head.

"I've searched everywhere, but there was no sign of him Raven. I've told my friends in the ocean to keep an eye out, but so far, no such luck." The young Atlantean reported.

"Well then, you haven't looked everywhere then." Raven replied in her monotone with the slightest hint of anger in it. Aqualad looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't used to having a girl angry with him. A hand fell onto her right shoulder and she looked behind her to see Robin standing there. He gave her shoulder a sympathetic squeeze before turning to the rest of the team.

"Trident seems to be laying low for now. We'll take this opportunity and pool all of our resources to find Beastboy, that's our top priority right now." The masked Titan announced, earning nods from everyone but Raven, who was watching waves as if that would will Beastboy to suddenly appear. Robin began issuing orders, but Raven wasn't really listening, she was lost in her own thoughts.

It was her fault, if she hadn't been busy acting like an immature fangirl around Aqualad she might have been able to protect Beastboy. The dark girl remembered hearing a splash behind her while healing Aqualad's wounds and spotting Trident. She found it a little odd the supervillain was sitting in the water with no weapon, but she thought nothing of it and blasted him with her dark energy. Trident ended up swimming away with his tail between his legs, but that's when she noticed that Beastboy was gone.

In hindsight, she realized the splash she heard was probably Beastboy crashing into the water. What a fool she had been, the currents might have carried him deeper into the ocean. Despair began to grip her as she realized they might never find him...or his body. All that time they had spent together, all of those things they confided with each other in. All those times they went out and just enjoyed each other's company. All of it gone.

The dark girl shook her head, she couldn't afford to think those thoughts right now. She would be of no use to anyone thinking these thoughts, especially Beastboy, who needed her now more than ever. No, she had to be strong, there were still ways they might be able to find him.

Taking a few steps towards the shore to separate herself from her friends, Raven assumed the lotus position, closed her eyes and concentrated, moments later, her soul self shot out of her body and delved into the ocean. Aqualad noticed this with slight alarm and turned to his fellow Titans.

"Uh, what's Raven doing?" He asked, Robin spared a glance at Raven's floating form.

"She's searching for Beastboy her own way." The Titans' leader answered, "We need to do our part as well. Cyborg, get the T-Sub prepped and ready to go as soon as you can, we'll be getting our feet wet tonight."


	4. An Unthinkable Deal

**A/N: Will be out of town this weekend, so the next chapter will be out later than usual.**

* * *

It felt like liquid fire was flowing into Beastboy's veins. He lost all sense of time and self as the red beam of energy from Malchior's tome continued to soak him in power. Power that was twisting and corrupting his very insides. Power that caused him pain beyond imagining. The emerald-skinned Titan wasn't sure how much time elapsed when the pain ended, but to him it felt like centuries. Malchior released his grip on his neck and he collapsed to the ground and curled up into a ball, his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched to try and cope with the agony he just endured. Where the hell were Raven and the others? He was in serious trouble here.

"None of your friends are coming to rescue you Beastboy. If you're relying on them then I'm afraid you will be sorely disappointed." Malchior informed him as if he was reading his thoughts.

"Screw...you..." Beastboy managed to gasp out. Even though the tome had ceased blasting him with it's energy, crackles of red electricity still danced across the changeling's body. His eyes were almost rolling into the back of his skull from the immense pain he was feeling. There was an amused twinkle in the disguised dragon's eye.

"Is that anyway to talk to the person who saved your life? I'm the one who brought you here you know." The disguised dragon replied, realization snapped Beastboy out of his haze of pain. So it wasn't Trident who had trapped him here, but Malchior!

"Why?" The pained green Titan croaked out, Malchior's blue eyes narrowed at him.

"Why? To save your life that's why! If I didn't send you here you would have been dead within a minute." The dread dragon answered him.

"So...you rescued me...out of the goodness of your heart?" Beastboy questioned, mustering as much sarcasm into his tone as he could under the circumstances. Another wave of pain washed over him and he fell into a coughing fit for a few moments before continuing. "I don't...buy it." Malchior chuckled at that.

"You're right, my intentions are far from altruistic. I have sustained your life because I require your assistance." The disguised dragon explained, Beastboy didn't like where this was going.

"Why should I..." The changeling stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, he was recovering slowly, but surely. Still, he had a long way to go before he would be able to stand up again. "Why should I help you?"

"Because Beastboy, if you don't then I can keep you trapped here for eternity. And do you really want another round with the spellbook here?" Malchior inquired, patting the white tome in his hand affectionately.

The green Titan wanted to tell Malchior to piss off, but something stopped him. What he had just endured thanks to that tome was excruciating and it looked like no help was in sight. Haven't the others found his physical body yet? A chilling thought suddenly entered his brain, what if they had given up? He tried to shake that thought from his head, but it stuck like glue. If they really had given up searching for him, then he was truly on his own. Which meant stalling for time was meaningless, he had to try something else.

"What would you need help on?" Beastboy questioned, there was a gleam in Malchior's blue eyes.

"I wish to escape that wretched chest that Raven has locked my physical body in." The disguised dragon revealed.

"Uh, kind of hard to do dude when I'm... y'know, inside this wonderful fantasyland of yours." The changeling commented.

"Actually this world is mostly your doing, I just used my magic to sustain you, all of the things and people you have encountered so far were created by your subconscious." Malchior replied, giving Beastboy something to think about "Anyways, as I was saying, I wish to free my physical body and I can't do that with my spirit form for obvious reasons. However, If I helped you escape here, you could head to Raven's room and free me."

Beastboy pondered this, freeing Malchior would be a huge risk. The Titans were lucky that he actually didn't do more damage the first time. If not for Raven, he probably would have leveled half of Jump City, maybe more. He was out of options though, the green Titan was alone, powerless and lost.

"So this is a 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' kind of thing?" Beastboy asked for clarification. Malchior thought for a moment then shrugged, nodding his head.

"I suppose you could put it that way. So what do you say Beastboy? Do we have a deal?"

* * *

Fish and other sea creatures hurried to get out of the way of Raven's soul self as she searched the ocean's depths. Though her energy form would just pass through them, the fish didn't know that, their senses just felt something unnatural and dangerous and so they reacted with their instincts. Deeper she went into the ocean, hoping to pick up the slightest hint of Beastboy's aura.

Anxiousness welled up in the dark girl, she'd have to return to her body soon and still she had found no sign of the changeling. The currents couldn't have carried him even farther could they? She clenched her teeth and growled in frustration, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Then she felt it, a faint aura just at the edge of her sensing range. Hope replaced the anxiousness in Raven's heart as she sped towards the aura. Pleading to the powers above that she would make it in time.

* * *

The weightlessness felt awkward to Beastboy as he travelled through the portal Malchior had created. For a brief few moments his vision was filled with nothing but fire. The flames seemed to reach out hungrily for him as if eager to burn his flesh. Then he reached his destination, Downtown Jump City, well at least the weird one in his mind.

Beastboy fell out of the portal onto his knees in the middle of a barren street. His right arm felt unusually warm and he rubbed it subconsciously. The changeling looked down again at his right arm, the sleeve and the glove had been torn off, revealing a dark red tattoo of a dragon that snaked all the way down his bicep, ending at his forearm with the dragon's head. The maw of the dragon was wide open as if it was about to swallow some unseen prey.

Just looking at the tattoo gave him shivers. It was a parting "Gift" from Malchior for agreeing to help him. A portion of his power that was "Bestowed" upon him to help him defend himself from the hostile entities. He still couldn't morph, and his body was still battered and beaten, so he had no choice but to rely on the dread dragon for now. His animal senses bristled at the dark magic saturated in the tattoo, but there was nothing he could do about it, not if he wanted to have a chance of escaping here anyway.

The changeling looked around to get his bearings. According to Malchior, there was something that he needed in the underground lair that Raven had used when she became the portal for Trigon. He shook his head, that was about a year and a half ago, but it seemed like forever, where does the time go?

A powerful roar drew his attention, looking to his left. Further down the street he made out two figures, one was large and green, with powerful arms and legs. It opened it's mouth to reveal it's razor sharp fangs as it tried to bite down on the other smaller figure's neck, the smaller figure barely managed to dive out of the way. Beastboy's face hardened, no doubt about it, the larger figure was the Beast.

The smaller figure wore a blue cloak and had the violet hair and grey skin he had become so familiar with over the years. As if she knew someone was staring at her, Raven turned to her left and locked eyes with him. Surprise registered in her amethyst eyes, before her expression brightened.

"Beastboy?" She called to him hopefully, the reunion was interrupted when the Beast let out another roar and lashed out with it's right hand. Only Raven's reflexes saved her as she reached forward and erected a barrier just a moment before the Beast's right claw would have cut into her abdomen. The green creature's swing was so powerful it shattered the barrier as quickly as it was created and the force of the blow knocked Raven into an alley behind her.

"Raven!" The emerald-skinned superhero called out, the Beast ignored him and pursued his cloaked friend into the alleyway.

"A little help would be nice!" Raven called out with a slightly higher volume, her rude tone gave Beastboy pause. He had taken a spear to the chest, was almost drowned by Aqualad and was brutalized by Malchior. Yet she had the nerve to be mad at him!?

The dragon tattoo on his right arm began to glow an angry blood-red as he glared at the alley that Raven and the Beast had disappeared into, the sounds of battle reaching his pointy ears. Why the hell was she angry? He was the one in here enduring a ton of pain and suffering and what was she doing? Sitting around meditating? Standing around making googly eyes at Aqualad? The changeling clenched his teeth in rage so tight he thought he was going to crack them. How dare she! After everything they'd been through! After...

He shook his head and blinked, the tattoo's glow disappearing. They had been through a lot, Raven and him, both as Titans and as teenagers. He knew better than most that she could be quite abrasive at times, but he also knew that deep down she cared about her friends, that she cared about him. Beastboy took a few deep breaths and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. Where had all that anger come from? It was wrong, and yet, so intoxicating, like a thirsty man getting his first drink of water in days.

"Beastboy!" Raven called out again, the green superhero could hear walls caving in as the Beast sought to smash her into a pulp with it's fists. Conflict arose within him, Malchior stressed to him about the importance of finding that underground lair as soon as possible. Although the dread dragon was sustaining his spirit here, his physical body would eventually die without sustenance and that would mean no escape at all. However, Raven was his friend, maybe more than his friend, well he liked to think so anyway. The Beast wasn't going to be a pushover...

He hesitated, trying to sort out the inner conflict within him. The dragon tattoo on his arm flashing with glowing light periodically. Finally after a few more moments of mental debate, Beastboy finally decided that above everything else, he couldn't stand to see Raven getting hurt. His mind made up, he raced towards the alley where the Beast and her were currently engaged in battle.

"Hang on Raven! I'm coming!" He shouted, running as fast as his legs could carry him.


	5. Savage Beasts and Strained Bonds

**A/N: Been doing a lot of running around R/L. So haven't found time to just sit down and type, until now. **

* * *

Entering the alleyway, Beastboy saw that Raven and the Beast had made a real mess of things. Claw marks and telekinetically thrown dumpsters littered the alleyway. There were a few holes the size of his torso in the brick walls as well. Further ahead, the changeling could see Raven rapidly retreating from the giant green creature. the Beast raised it's right claw above it's head, about to swing it downwards onto the cloaked Titan's skull.

"Leave her alone!" Beastboy shouted, the Beast's ears twitched at the sound of his voice and it finally turned to give him it's full undivided attention. The emerald-skinned superhero spread his arms wide. "It's me you want isn't it? then come get some!"

Predictably, the Beast roared, and raised it's left claw, preparing to attack Beastboy, which he was expecting. What he didn't expect was the giant green lycanthrope to smash it's left fist into the ground, completely decimating the concrete the changeling was standing on. Beastboy was forced to leap backwards to avoid falling into the giant hole that the Beast had created. The changeling could have sworn he seen the savage hybrid grin at him, then it turned around and continued pursuing Raven.

"Wait!" Beastboy called out, but the Beast ignored him. He mentally cursed, there was no way he was going to make that jump in his normal form and he still couldn't transform. Power suddenly and very painfully flowed through him and the green superhero looked down at his right arm to see the dragon tattoo glowing brightly. He looked back up at the huge ravine the Beast had created and shrugged. Why not, after all Malchior did give him this power to deal with things here, he couldn't let it go to waste.

Taking a few running steps, Beastboy jumped into the air, at the exact moment of his jump, he felt the power surge into his legs. He watched in amazement as he easily cleared the ravine with his jump, landing safely on the other side. The changeling looked down at his legs in amazement.

"Dude this dark magic is pretty cool!" He exclaimed, the sounds of the fight drew his attention again and he looked ahead to see Raven and the Beast duking it out on a main street of Jump City. He watched as his cloaked teammate shot forth a large glowing black claw with her left hand. The claw wrapped it's fingers around the Beast's torso, pushing him back. The green lycanthrope was not about to be denied it's prey so easily though. It's muscles rippling, the Beast freed itself from the claw's grip with it's hands and threw it down into the sidewalk with enough power to dissipate it.

Raven recoiled as her dark energy claw was destroyed and the Beast took that opportunity to strike. The giant green werebeast took to the air and dived feet-first towards the dark Titan. Raven was able to react in time and leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the Beast.

The jade lycanthrope continued it's rampage, lashing out with it's left claw in a horizontal swing. Raven's eyes widened and she phased into the ground to avoid the attack. Reappearing a good twenty-five feet away from the Beast. The dark girl's mouth was hanging open as she breathed heavily, escaping the creature's brutal attacks was draining her.

"Beastboy...Help!" She called out, her tone more desperate. The changeling raced towards his more primal self from behind, but as soon as he got in melee range the Beast took off like a bullet again. Once more, the jade-furred lycanthrope headed for Raven, completely ignoring Beastboy. It was starting to get frustrating for the emerald-skinned superhero.

"Get back here!" Beastboy demanded, reaching forward with his right hand in frustration as if that would somehow compel the Beast to obey. To his surprise a blast of orange flame burst forth from his palm, hitting the savage hybrid square in the back. The blast was strong enough to knock the feral hybrid off of it's feet, smashing it through the windows of a store just to the left of where Raven was standing. She looked at Beastboy with wide eyes.

"What did you just do!?" She inquired, Beastboy stared at his right hand incredulously, so this is the power Malchior had given him, it felt strangely invigorating.

"I think I'm kicking the Beast's collective butt. Pretty cool huh?." He replied with a small smirk, Raven had a skeptical look on her face.

"I don't know...it doesn't feel right." The dark Titan stated, she noticed the red dragon tattoo on her green friend's right arm and was instantly concerned. That was definitely the work of magic and not the good kind, but what kind was it exactly? Beastboy responded to her statement with a glare.

"Yeah well, you're not the one wielding it. Feels alright to me." The changeling told her, closing his right hand into a fist, the dragon tattoo on his arm glowing brightly. "What took YOU so long anyway? It hasn't exactly been all peachy keen in here." at this Raven recovered her composure.

"Well Trident wasn't going to defeat himself." Raven answered in monotone, almost smiling at the irony of her response, almost. Beastboy's eyes narrowed.

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't take hours for us to defeat a supervillain Raven." He stated, "So are you going to keep giving me the run around? Or are you going to tell me the real reason?" The dark girl's face became puzzled.

"It hasn't been a few hours..." She informed him, but was quickly interrupted.

"Yes it HAS! I would know, I've been tormented long enough in here!" Beastboy snarled, the dragon tattoo glowing blood-red, Raven noticed with alarm that the glow had reached his eyes and that they had become two red orbs of light glaring at her. It was a little unsettling. She put her hands up in what she hoped was a placating gesture.

"Beastboy, it's possible that time flows differently in here than it does in the real world, what would be hours for you might have been minutes for us." Raven told him.

"Might have been!?" The changeling growled dangerously, he was practically in the cloaked Titan's face now. Although she kept her neutral expression externally, internally she was trying to figure out the right response that would pacify her green friend, so far she was coming up empty.

Their conversation was interrupted when the Beast leapt through the same broken window that Beastboy had sent him through. Landing on the street behind and to the right of the two arguing Titans. It sniffed the air a few times with it's nose before exposing it's sharp white teeth in a growl.

"We'll discuss this later." Raven quickly said, her eyes glowing white and her hands encased in dark energy as she turned to face the primal hybrid. "After we take care of your animal side."

"You're damn right we will." Beastboy replied, turning to face the Beast, the dragon tattoo and his eyes glowing with power. The lycanthrope was not intimidated and to show this, it picked up a piece of the street, easily the size of a car, and lobbed it at the two Titans.

The two young superheroes instantly split up, Raven moved to the left while Beastboy moved to the right. Using the teamwork they had grown accustomed to over the years, they circled and flanked the Beast. Once in position, they each fired their respective blasts of power at the savage hybrid.

Curiously, the Beast's response was to narrow it's eyes at the incoming blasts. Dark energy incoming from it's right, orange fire from his left. The Beast took this into account and crouched down low, a moment later the two blasts impacted in a colorful explosion of orange and black.

Raven relaxed slightly, thinking they had defeated the primal hybrid, but Beastboy knew better. This thing had been living inside of him for more than two years, it wasn't just a raging mass of muscle, it was cunning as well. The changeling strained his animal senses, trying to locate the lycanthrope.

A sudden vibration in the air alerted to him of something big dropping down from above. Looking up he saw the Beast, descending so fast he was nothing but a giant green blur. He was diving headfirst for an unsuspecting Raven, seeing this, Beastboy dipped into his borrowed power and used it to enhance his leap. He crashed into the hybrid's left side, only a mere six feet from Raven's head.

The sound of an impact above her head drew the cloaked girl's attention and she looked up to see two green blurs slamming into the wall of a building to her left. They had impacted right around the structure's second story. The blurs receded into the forms of Beastboy and the Beast. Currently, the latter was buried halfway into the wall spine-first with the former just an arm's length away.

The changeling grunted and planted his right fist into the savage hybrid's midsection, embedding it even deeper into the wall. To Beastboy's amazement, the lycanthrope merely growled at him and grabbed his waist with both hands. He struggled, but the hybrid's grip was like steel. The Beast leapt out of the dent it had made in the building with the green superhero in tow. It raised Beastboy above it's head as it descended to the street below at breathtaking speeds. As soon as the Beast's feet touched the ground it threw the changeling down in front of it with all of it's savage strength.

Raven was forced to levitate a few feet off the ground as the impact shook the entire street. A truck-sized crater now existed in front of the Beast. The dark girl stared in disbelief, there was no way Beastboy would be able to continue fighting after something like that. The Beast must've realized the same thing because it immediately zero'ed in on her, a growl rumbling deep in it's throat.

Summoning her power, Raven attempted to drop a thick pillar of dark energy onto the savage hybrid's head. The Beast nimbly sidestepped to it's right, narrowly avoiding the pillar, it then circled to Raven's left, running on both it's hands and feet. The green lycanthrope opened it's jaw wide and dove for the cloaked Titan, intending to knock her down and rip her to shreds. Raven kept her calm composure, emotionlessly extending her left hand toward the Beast, eyes glowing white. She could smell the Beast's rancid breath as another pillar came from above and crashed down onto the hybrid's back, smashing it into the street and pinning it there.

Finally the street was silent, not even the Beast was growling anymore. Raven let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, just in case she kept the pillar conjured, to keep the hybrid pinned down. It was quite the struggle, but they had won, now the only thing to do was to check to see if Beastboy was okay, hopefully it was nothing too serious...

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly the Beast rose up to it's feet. It roared and shrugged off the pillar suddenly like it wasn't even there. Only Raven's reflexes, sharpened through training from both Robin and her days as a monk saved her from death as she leaned away from the suddenly charging lycanthrope. Thanks to her quick evasive maneuver, instead of the Beast impaling her skull with it's right claw it instead grazed her left cheek, striking three bloody lines across it. She moved with the blow so that it didn't have the force it could have, still, she was sent tumbling backwards head over heels, the ground and the sky alternately rotating in her vision.

Raven finally crashed back down to the street belly-first, despite the pain she immediately propped herself up on her elbows. There was no time to be hurt, she had to get back up on her feet before the Beast was on her. Her violet eyes looked up and quickly widened as they saw the savage hybrid filling up her vision. She mentally cursed, she wouldn't be able to move or erect a barrier in time.

The Beast almost seemed to smile, as if knowing it had it's prey this time. It reared back with it's left claw and brought it forward in a fierce horizontal arc, intending to rip out the cloaked girl's jugular. It's arm was suddenly stopped though, like it had hit an invisible wall. The lycanthrope's eyes actually widened in surprise before narrowing in fury. The thing that had stopped it's swipe was Beastboy himself.

The entire upper torso of the changeling was exposed, the costume torn apart from the Beast's last attack against him. He was in a crouched position, his right hand was stretched out to his side, gripping the primal hybrid's left wrist tightly, the claws were just inches from the right side of Raven's face. The dark girl was so surprised by Beastboy's entrance that she didn't notice however. The changeling's head was lowered so the Beast couldn't see his eyes, but it could hear his voice fine.

"I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where you beat me." Beastboy snarled, raising his head to glare at the Beast, the dragon tattoo and his eyes began glowing red. "You of all things should know that I don't roll over and die that easily." The emerald-skinned superhero applied pressure to the lycanthrope's left wrist, causing it to growl in pain. "Now." He stated, his tone going cold and his voice started to echo. "It's time to put you back in your cage you filthy animal."


	6. One Step Into Insanity

**A/N: Surprisingly I wrote this chapter while listening to some mellow music.**

* * *

Raven couldn't help but notice the height difference between the two green beings. The Beast easily towered over the small changeling and yet Beastboy was holding it's left wrist like it had all the strength of a wet noodle. The green Titan's next move happened so fast that the dark girl almost missed it.

Beastboy raised his left leg and slammed it into the lycanthrope's sternum, causing the Beast to slide a good twenty feet backwards. The changeling was already extending his left hand forward and a burst of orange fire flew out of his palm. The Beast was still holding it's sternum in pain with it's right hand and looked up just in time to see an orange fiery projectile shaped like a dragon's head flying right for it, then the dragon head detonated.

The resulting explosion from Beastboy's attack was powerful. The emerald-skinned superhero had to dig his heels in to prevent the shockwave from knocking him off his feet. Raven dealt with the force of the explosion by erecting a dome of obsidian energy around her.

Flames and smoke plumed forth from where Beastboy's blast hit the Beast and the changeling couldn't help but take a moment to admire the destructive power he had just used. Something suddenly shot forth from the fire, snapping Beastboy's attention back to the battle at hand. This something was large and green, small parts of the Beast's fur were still burning and there were numerous small dark patches where the flames had done their work already. Still, the angry lycanthrope had a lot of fight left in it.

Tucking itself into a ball, the Beast sped towards Beastboy like a run-away train. To his credit, the changeling was able to leap over the balled up savage hybrid. The Beast merely bounced off of Raven's barrier, earning a curse from the cloaked Titan. She had been directly behind her emerald-skinned friend and had unwittingly allowed the feral lycanthrope to springboard back at him.

Beastboy had barely touched his shoes back on the ground when he found his more savage counterpart speeding towards him yet again. Instead of trying to dodge, he planted his feet and extended both of his arms. The changeling actually managed to "Catch" the Beast, the impact slid him back a few feet, but he still stood firm.

Sensing that it's current tactic wasn't working, the Beast untucked itself, shoving the green Titan back a few more feet and catching him off-guard. The feral hybrid used this opportunity to spin around in a complete clockwise horizontal rotation and deliver a nasty kick with it's right foot into Beastboy's right cheek, one of the claws on it's foot managing to draw blood. Undeterred, the changeling retaliated by slamming the back of his right hand viciously into the Beast's snout, whipping it's head back.

Quickly recovering, the fierce lycanthrope snarled and smacked Beastboy hard on the left side of his face with it's right hand. Causing the emerald-skinned superhero to stagger back a step, he growled, planted his feet and brought his right hand forward in a powerful uppercut, hitting the bottom of the Beast's jaw. The blow was so strong it pulled the savage hybrid's feet off the ground, causing it to hover in mid-air, perpendicular to the ground for a brief moment.

A moment was all Beastboy needed however, he immediately did a complete horizontal spin of his own, rotating counter-clockwise and lashing out with his left foot, planting his shoe into the Beast's gut. The lycanthrope flew backwards, bouncing off the ground spine-first once before flipping over and landing on it's belly. Raven was forced to take to the skies to avoid being crushed by the large creature.

Beastboy dashed forward, extending his right palm and firing another orange blast of energy at his opponent. The Beast was still trying to get to it's feet, but with amazing quickness it swatted Beastboy's blast away from it with it's left hand, the blast crashed into a nearby building and exploded, sending debris everywhere. Despite this, the changeling continued to charge forward, the savage hybrid bared it's teeth, raising both hands above it's head, bringing them down right as Beastboy reached melee range.

At the last second, the emerald-skinned superhero cut left, the force of the Beast's fists hitting the concrete nearly caused him to fall over, but luckily he kept his balance. Channeling Malchior's borrowed power into his legs, Beastboy sprinted in a circle around the feral lycanthrope, leaving a trail of fire behind where he ran. The Beast struck out with it's left claw in a vertical slash, trying to catch the changeling, but Beastboy was too quick, leaping backwards before the claws made contact.

The savage hybrid was about to pursue, when the circle of flame surrounding it suddenly grew to three times it's size. The flames licked at the Beast and it was forced to step backwards, covering it's face with it's hands as if that would keep it safe from the fire. Beastboy grinned, he had effectively pinned the creature down. He looked into the air above him and shouted.

"Raven! Now!"

Directly above the Beast, Raven's eyes were glowing the color of ivory and she had both hands raised above her head. She glared down at the lycanthrope before saying her three famous words.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She chanted and then brought her hands, glowing with dark energy, down towards the Beast. The blast of dark energy molded into the form of a giant raven, which let out an eerie cry from it's beak before plunging into the savage green hybrid. Obsidian energy crackled all along the street from the point of impact, leaving large gouges in the concrete.

Raven's eyes resumed their amethyst color and she landed to Beastboy's left side a smirk on her face. The changeling was still focusing on the pillar of smoke the dark Titan's attack had created. She frowned, he was mad at her. She could tell he had been tortured and the dark red dragon tattoo on his chest definitely had the workings of dark magic. The cloaked girl couldn't help but wonder just what exactly had happened to him in here.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say we got it." She spoke, "The Beast is down, you can relax." The changeling shook his head in response.

"No." He replied, "He's not done yet, don't let your guard down." Raven raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Beastboy..." She started, but was soon interrupted by her green friend.

"Raven, this thing has lived inside me for years, I know it better than anyone else." He told her, sparing a glance at the dark girl, "I think I'd know if it was defeated or not."

Raven was about to reply when she caught the large outline of the Beast in the dispersing smoke. She tensed, getting ready to summon her powers, while Beastboy dropped into a fighting stance. He had been right, she should have known better than to second guess him when it came to the savage hybrid. She wouldn't like it if he second-guessed her when it came to her rage after all.

The smoke from the cloaked Titan's attack finally disappeared and it's place stood a very angry jade-furred lycanthrope. Saliva and foam were dripping from it's mouth as it growled menacingly at the two young superheroes. Both Titans noticed that even more random patches of fur were missing from the Beast's body and several burns were added across it's arms, legs and torso as well. Despite the damage, the growling hybrid just seemed more angry and then it blurred out of sight.

Beastboy and Raven only had a moment to look surprised before the Beast blurred back into sight right in front of them. With a snarl, the giant lycanthrope smashed it's right fist into the ground between the Two Titans, the shockwave knocking them into the air. The feral hybrid then landed a vicious kick with it's right foot to Raven's gut. The cloaked girl grunted and flew spine-first into a steel pole, the material bending as it absorbed her impact. She collapsed back down to the sidewalk.

Seeing Raven get manhandled caused Beastboy's blood to boil, before he knew it he was smashing his right fist into the Beast's snout. The force of the changeling's blow sent the lycanthrope sailing backwards. Beastboy chased after the airborne hybrid, fueled by Malchior's borrowed power, the emerald-skinned Titan couldn't help but grin as the overwhelming energy flowed through his body.

The Beast had managed to land back on it's feet rather than it's back. It's neck muscles rippled as it let out a fierce roar, standing it's ground as Beastboy ran toward it. As the changeling drew closer to the lycanthrope, it swung it's left claw in a brutal underswing, it's claws actually barely scraping the street's surface as it brought it up, intending to impale Beastboy from the jaw. On the flip side, the emerald-skinned superhero had leapt into the air and was bringing his left foot down towards the Beast's face with all the strength he could muster.

Both fighters knew that they were going for broke with these attacks. Neither would yield willingly so it was a matter of who had not just the greater strength, but the stronger will to prevail. The shockwave from the clash was so powerful that it shattered some of the windows of the nearby buildings and for one single moment the two unstoppable forces were deadlocked.

Finally, the larger of the two fighters was knocked backwards, slamming hard into the sidewalk behind it. Beastboy's eyes were wide in surprise, the Beast lay supine in front of him, unconscious and completely defeated, cracks spidered across the sidewalk and part of the street where it landed. A dull pain brought the changeling's right hand to his right cheek, touching the hurt spot. He withdrew his hand to find blood on it, the blasted lycanthrope must've landed a glancing blow, but that didn't matter, he had won.

The dragon tattoo on the changeling's right arm began to glow intensely and Beastboy found himself suddenly hungering for something. He began to approach the downed Beast, feeling as if an invisible force was drawing him towards his more primal half. His right hand reached out for the lifeless lycanthrope and he could feel the unknown hunger within him grow.

And it felt good.

* * *

Raven groaned as she rose to her knees, rubbing her back with her left hand. She dimly remembered seeing the Beast's snarling face before losing consciousness. Slowly the dark girl rose to her feet, just how long was she out? She looked around, trying to find her green teammate, spotting him across the street from her. As the blurriness in her vision receded she noticed that there was something wrong.

Beastboy was standing over the Beast, who was lying limp on it's back. The changeling's right hand was extended toward it, a beam of red energy flowing from his palm to the lycanthrope's chest. Raven watched in fascinated horror as the Beast began to glow the same color as Beastboy's dragon tattoo and was then sucked into her green friend's right palm. Immediately afterwards the emerald-skinned superhero grabbed his midsection as if he was in pain.

"Beastboy?" Raven called out nervously, the cloaked Titan saw him pause and then look up to stare at her and what she saw chilled her to the bone. The blood-red glow in his eyes had intensified, but the worst part was the grin he wore. It wasn't the grin of someone who had just emerged victorious from a difficult battle.

It was the grin of a young man losing his sanity.


	7. Addiction Woes

The power, the absolute power coursing through his veins, the ecstasy Beastboy was feeling was indescribable. He felt as if he was light enough to float into heaven itself, nothing was out of his grasp! And yet, he wanted more, craved more.

"Beastboy?" He heard a voice speak to his left, it was Raven, his friend and fellow teammate. He looked at her, the girl's amethyst eyes filled with concern for him, but that didn't matter to the changeling. He could feel Raven's power radiating from her, a smirk formed on his lips, such power, if only he had it for himself. A little voice, quiet, but persistent, told him that he could have that power. All he had to do was point his palm at her and...

"Beastboy." Raven said again, this time more sternly, she approached him until she was only about six feet away. "Don't let the dark magic influence you, fight it."

His eyes widened and his smirk vanished, is that what this was? Dark magic? It sure didn't feel like he thought dark magic would feel. It was warm and invigorating not frigidly cold. The power he currently possessed couldn't be evil, could it? Looking into Raven's eyes, the emotion those violet portals held betraying the stoic mask she now had on, he realized that it really was dark magic.

A hand landed on his shoulder then, a grey hand. Raven's face was only a foot apart from his, her breath tickling his face. It was very distracting.

"Don't let it control you. You're better than that, I know you are." She told him, something in her tone was almost pleading. Conflict arose within the changeling, that little voice in his head told him to plunge his hand into Raven's heart and draw every last bit of delicious power out of her. Another voice, one that was rapidly weakening, was telling him he was getting on a very dark train of thought and he needed to stop.

Raven saw the conflict raging through Beastboy through his eyes, which were flashing between his normal green eyes and the glowing red ones. Taking a risk, she cradled his face with her hands.

"Look at me Garfield." She gently commanded, he complied. "You are stronger than this, you are better than this." He was trembling now, the dark magic not yet ready to relinquish it's hold on him. Raven knew she had to be very careful now, this close to him, Beastboy could easily kill her if he fell to the influence of the dark magic within him. But she had to, he was her good friend, she had to take this chance. "Come back." The dark girl spoke softly, almost in a whisper, "Come back please."

That did it, both the dragon tattoo and Beastboy's glowing eyes dimmed. The changeling began panting heavily as if he'd been holding his breath underwater. Carefully he grabbed Raven's wrists and removed her hands from his face, taking a step back to get a good look at her.

"Well that was...something." The green Titan commented, still panting. "Thanks Raven, this dark magic must be worse than any drug out there."

"It's only suppressed within you for the moment." Raven informed him, relief evident in her facial expression. "We'll have to get you out of here for me to properly remove..." She didn't get to finish as a wall of water suddenly crashed into them. Beastboy's vision was filled with nothing but water as he flailed about.

The changeling suddenly felt something in the back of his mind, something that had been missing and was now found. Mentally he reached for this something and found himself changing, turning into a dolphin and diving out of the wall of water that had hit him. Beastboy changed back to his normal self before landing back on the street, Elation running through him, he could morph again!

"I see you have regained your morphing abilities." He heard a voice say from behind him, turning Beastboy locked eyes with none other than Aqualad. The Atlantean had an unconscious Raven over his left shoulder. "Not that it matters much, you're still a weakling."

"Let her go!" Beastboy exclaimed, morphing into a green bull, the dragon tattoo was still embedded in his skin even while changed. The bull charged at Aqualad who merely leapt over it. The emerald-skinned Titan reverted back to his normal form and extended his right palm towards the still airborne Aqualad, firing another orange blast of fire at him. He aimed for the right leg so as not to hit Raven by accident. The seafaring superhero summoned the water from the sewers below, it ripped the street apart and blocked the orange blast of energy. Aqualad landed on the opposite sidewalk from the Changeling, a smirk on his face.

"Afraid I can't do that lettuce head, it seems Raven has become confused. Spending all her attention on a freak like you when a handsome stud like me is around." The Atlantean replied to Beastboy's earlier exclamation.

"Why should she pay attention to you? All you do is stand around trying to look good for the ladies, I bet you forgot where you put your balls." The changeling taunted, Aqualad smirked.

"Cute." The seafaring superhero stated. "I'm taking Raven with me, I don't trust her with rabble like you." Beastboy snarled at this.

"You're not going anywhere!" He shouted at the Atlantean, preparing to leap across the hole where the street used to be.

"Not so fast." Aqualad called out, Raven's legs were draped over the front of his left side and his grip on them tightened noticeably, "You make another move against me and I'll snap her pretty little neck." The seafaring Titan threatened, "If you really want her back, you'll do it on my terms. The underground chamber where little Ms. Darkness here became the portal, meet me there and we'll end this." And with that, Aqualad leapt into the hole in the street he had made, disappearing in the darkness with Raven in tow.

"WAIT!" Beastboy shouted, but it was too late.

Aqualad was gone.

The changeling's animal senses were not picking up a scent or a sound. He growled in frustration, damn his useless animal powers! What good were they if they couldn't help him find Raven? He only had one choice, to play Aqualad's game and meet him at the underground chamber. His only consolation was that he needed to head that way already. Morphing into a bird, Beastboy made his way to the rendezvous, both to save Raven and to get Malchior what he needed so he could get out of this crazy place.

* * *

**A/N: Apologies for the short chapter, but more are coming soon.**


	8. To Hunt an Aqualad

**A/N: Thank you people who are reviewing, I appreciate it.**

* * *

On the island surrounded by dark waters and red sand, Malchior stood at it's center, a floating rectangular mirror about the size of an average human floated before him. It showed images of Beastboy and kept him up to date on his current progress. Which the disguised dragon had to admit, was going slower than he had anticipated. His light-blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, he had Raven to thank for that.

Still, the dark magic he had infused within the changeling was having it's intended effect. Eventually it's influence would cause Beastboy to forsake all his bonds in his pursuit for power. Once the short green freak had found the power sleeping within the old portal chamber and returned to him with it, he would end his miserable life and use that power to escape his wretched prison.

Not even the sharpest of eyes could detect Malchior's smirk from under the black scarf he wore.

* * *

The green eagle adorned with a red dragon tattoo landed in an ancient and dark hallway, reverting to Beastboy's humanoid form. Raven's scent lead down the hallway, he frowned, if the hallway branched, searching this place could take awhile. His eyes narrowed as he delved into his thoughts, if he had only remembered the location of this place a year ago.

When Raven had defeated her father, Trigon. The hole in the surface that lead to the chamber in a more direct way was repaired. The rest of the Titans, himself included, pushed the portal chamber out of their memories, it was something they all wanted to forget. Now he was regretting that choice.

The little voice whispered to his mind, telling him there was an easy way to do this. All he had to do was use the dark magic and just blow up the entire passageway. Given his current anger and frustration it was terribly, terribly tempting to do so. He could finish his mission so much faster that way.

Once again, the dragon tattoo began glowing and Beastboy groaned, cradling his head in his hands. He slumped, leaning against the cold stone wall to his left. Fighting to resist the savage urges the dark magic was bringing him. Destroying the passageway would be easy, but he could end up hurting Raven in the process. The little voice spoke again with more insistence and he felt an invisible pressure in his brain.

Beastboy shut his eyes and mentally shoved back at the invisible force trying to bully him. He was eventually successful in pushing it back, but like the Beast within him, he could still feel it there, in the corners of his mind, lurking like a predator and waiting for him to weaken. With an effort he pushed himself off the wall and steadied his legs, taking a deep breath.

He needed to find Raven, not just for her sake, but for his. If he couldn't save her, then this dark magic would twist and corrupt him into something terrible. He had to save Raven in order to save himself.

"Looks like you're having some trouble there." Beastboy heard the hated familiar voice of Aqualad, spotting him a little further down the passage way, a cocky smirk on his face. "I guess when you're hooked on dark magic like some drug-addled moron that it's bound to take it's toll."

"Shut up." The changeling hissed, balling his hands into fists. "What have you done with Raven?"

"I'm removing the wool from her eyes." The Atlantean replied, "She's been degrading herself, associating with an animal like you."

"Pretty sure hanging out with a fishstick isn't very flattering either." Beastboy responded.

"And what exactly do you have to offer her?" Aqualad inquired, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "With me, not only does she get to ogle my great body, she can also see an entire kingdom, one with untold magical knowledge for her to delve in at her heart's content. And you..." The seafaring Titan snorted arrogantly. "...All you can offer her are bad jokes and unclipped toenails, and when the animal finally takes over completely, you won't even be able to give her that." The short emerald-skinned superhero barked out a short laugh.

"You're delusional, I'll never let the animal take over." Beastboy replied, bending his knees slightly in preparation to go on the offensive. "Now, let Raven go and I promise not to rough up your pretty face too much." Aqualad laughed contemptuously, taking a step forward and dropping into a fighting stance.

"You're the delusional one, fighting against the inevitable. Like a mangy mutt that needs to be put out of it's misery." The Atlantean shot back, letting out a melodramatic sigh. "It's a dirty job, but it looks like I'll be your executioner tonight." Beastboy smiled at this.

"Bring it on pretty boy!" He exclaimed, morphing into a cheetah and dashing towards Aqualad, the seafaring superhero scoffed at the changeling's straight-forward approach. Summoning the water underground to burst through the stone floor and slam into the green cheetah in a massive wave.

Like the previous times he expected the wave to knock Beastboy out or at least slow him down. It was not the case this time, a large green whale sounded off from within the wave and a moment later it burst through the water, slamming into Aqualad with the full force of it's skull. The dark-haired Atlantean took the hit well and when he dug his heels into the floor, he actually managed to halt the whale's advance. Aqualad took this time to sneer at the changeling.

"I'm liking the new mean streak in you, maybe now I can get some decent exercise!" The seafaring Titan boasted, and with that he slammed his right fist into the whale's mouth. The massive creature was actually knocked back the way it came thanks to Aqualad's enhanced strength. Beastboy quickly reverted to his normal form and landed in the floor in a crouched position, pausing for a moment to rethink his strategy.

After a few moments he morphed into an eagle and took to the air, swooping down on Aqualad's head with incredible speed. The dark-haired atlantean managed to lean to his right and avoid the eagle's sharp talon's, but the bird turned right around and dived at him again. This time, Aqualad was ready for Beastboy's method of attack, with perfect timing he slammed his right fist into the bird's torso as it neared him. The impact knocked the green eagle into the ceiling, where it was embedded. The seafaring Titan grinned up at the stuck bird.

Not ready to give up just yet, Beastboy changed from an eagle to a triceratops. The dinosaur's massive weight freed it from the ceiling. Aqualad's black eyes widened at the sight of the huge triceratops falling head-first toward him, at the last moment he managed to dive forward to avoid being crushed, landing a good thirty feet away. The triceratops reverted back to the familiar human form of the changeling, who was holding his head with his left hand and snarling in frustration.

Aqualad got back to his feet, the arrogant grin once again on his face. "Give it up little man, you know you can't keep up with me. You might as well get used to the idea that Raven will be coming home with me tonight!" He boasted, Beastboy's lips peeled back, exposing his teeth, the dragon tattoo began glowing once more.

"Shut up!" The changeling shouted, throwing his right hand out and firing a massive blast of orange fire at Aqualad. The Atlantean snorted in disgust and moved his hands in front of his face in order to deflect it when suddenly the blast changed it's path. It moved to his left and went behind him before rising in the air. Aqualad found himself looking up and into the fiery eyes of an orange dragon, it's head the size of a small vehicle and it's body constructed entirely from fire.

The seafaring Titan actually gulped as the dragon's head swooped down, opening it's jaw wide. There was no last-second escape this time for Aqualad as the dragon crashed down on him. As soon as it made contact, the dragon shined brightly for a second before exploding in a huge ball of flame.

Beastboy was actually forced to shield his face with his arms the explosion was so intense. When it finally died down he surveyed the damage, a good section of the stone hallway was charred and damaged. At the center of the destruction was Aqualad, lying prone on the ground with his left hand stretched out, his body smoking from the blast he just took. The changeling grinned maliciously at the sight.

Surprisingly, the dark-haired Atlantean rose to his knees, breathing heavily. Aqualad's eyes suddenly widened and he quickly leaned over and vomited up a small amount of blood. When he was finished he looked up and glared at Beastboy.

"You bastard!" The seafaring Titan hissed, summoning some water to carry him away from the emerald-skinned superhero and further down the hallway.

"Get back here!" Beastboy yelled, firing another orange blast down the passageway, while not as powerful as his first one it was still strong enough to cause the ground to tremble. He chased after it, hoping he'd find the fishstick's dead body. Sadly, he was disappointed, Aqualad was nowhere to be found.

Green eyes were replaced with glowing red and pupil-less ones as Beastboy ground his teeth in outrage. "Coward! You talk big and then at the first sign of trouble you run away!?" He slammed his fist into the ground, causing cracks to spider across the floor. "Show yourself you spineless worm!" The changeling was about to slam his fist into the ground again to vent his frustration when his nose picked up the scent of blood, Aqualad's blood. A grin appeared on his face as he morphed into a wolf, following the scent.

Beastboy continued down the passageway, which to his dismay actually did branch out into two different corridors. Luckily though he had the scent of Aqualad's blood to guide him and he used that to his full advantage. Going down the passageway heavy with the coppery scent. Soon he saw patches of blood on the ground and if wolves could smile he would have done it in that form right then and there.

Eventually the changeling caught the outline of Aqualad in his sights. Not wasting another moment, he dashed toward the Atlantean, who turned around at the sound of feet pattering across the floor to see an enraged green wolf bearing down on him. Beastboy immediately noticed a wound in Aqualad's left side, slightly above the hip, blood was seeping through the seafaring Titans right hand. A few droplets of the red liquid dripping to the ground.

The green wolf pounced on top of Aqualad, knocking him onto his back. Beastboy went for his throat, but before he could bite down he felt himself propelled backwards. Looking down he saw the Atlantean's extended legs and realized he had been kicked off.

Reverting back to his normal form in mid-air, Beastboy growled at his opponent, covering his hands in orange flame, he dug them into the wall to his left, stopping his backwards momentum. He then sprung forward, roaring all the way. The green-skinned Titan's roar became more primal as he transformed into an ape, rearing his left hand back to smash it into Aqualad's skull.

Seeing this the seafaring Titan leapt backwards to avoid the attack, and the emerald ape's left fist hit nothing but the stone in the floor. He was about to make a snide remark when he felt something grab his left ankle, looking down Aqualad saw that the ape had grabbed his ankle with it's right hand. The ape smiled evilly at him before slamming the dark-haired Atlantean into the ground spine-first.

Aqualad cried out in pain as he hit the ground, this felt like music to Beastboy's ears as he pulled him up into the air by his ankle and brought him down again. This time, the seafaring Titan gave more of a coughing grunt and the changeling saw small droplets of blood fly from his mouth. He was about to slam Aqualad a third time when his plans abruptly changed when the Atlantean took his right foot and planted it into his nose.

Beastboy roared in pain, releasing his grip on Aqualad's ankle to hold his damaged nose. Seeing an opportunity to escape, the seafaring Titan summoned some water from under the floor and created an ankle-deep stream, using it to slide away from the enraged ape. Seeing this, the changeling tried to give chase, but was unable to as Aqualad suddenly changed the stream's current. As soon as the ape stepped into the stream, he found himself suddenly falling onto his left side. By the time Beastboy recovered and was back on his feet, the dark-haired Atlantean was long-gone. The changeling was furious.

"Is running away all you know how to do!?" Beastboy roared. "I thought you were going to be my executioner big guy! What happened? Did you bite off more than you can chew?!" He continued yelling into the darkness. Although the water had washed away the scent of blood, The emerald-skinned Titan could now rely on his ears, Aqualad's pained breathing was coming in loud and clear. With a maniacal smirk, Beastboy continued down the passageway, the stream Aqualad had used to get away disappearing back underneath the stone floor.

"Geez, can't you take a hint? Leave me alone!" Aqualad's voice sounded from further down the corridor, this caused Beastboy to frown.

"Leave you alone?" The changeling repeated, eyes glowing crimson. "What's the matter? Pretty boy like you can't handle one mangy mutt?" He continued, throwing Aqualad's earlier words back at him. "You are pitiful dude!"

"Whatever! In the end I will still get the girl Beastboy! and you will have nothing!" The seafaring Titan called out, The jade-skinned superhero could hear himself getting closer. Good. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the arrogant son of a bitch.

"Oh I will have something before the day is over!" Beastboy shouted back, his hands repeatedly closing and opening. "Your head on a spike!" From the sound of things, Aqualad couldn't be too much farther ahead of him, still out of sight, but that wouldn't matter.

Drawing from the dark magic's power, Beastboy began channeling it into his right arm, the dragon tattoo glowing an angry shade of crimson. He extended his palm and poured all of his anger into a huge blast of fire that engulfed the entire passageway. A surprised yelp from ahead told him that his blast had found it's target.

The resulting explosion from the changeling's attack destroyed most of the passageway's walls and ceiling, opening up a huge hole about thirty feet wide and twenty-five feet high in front of him. Light began filling the area, not a lot, but enough to where the changeling could see more than twenty feet in front of him. Just ahead of him was a large circular chamber, huge stone statues with cloaks similar to Raven's decorated the walls. He immediately recognized it, this was the chamber Raven had used to bring Trigon into their world. However, this time instead of a large stone hand at the center, there was a wounded Aqualad.

The Atlantean lay curled up on his right side, rips and tears adorned his costume. His eyes were shut tight and a few thick strands of his long dark hair fell onto his face, his teeth were also clenched as he tried to deal with the pain he was in. Beastboy took in the sight of his injured opponent with a sadistic grin.

As the changeling approached the downed Aqualad, the sea-friendly Titan's eyes snapped open. Upon seeing Beastboy he quickly looked around, trying to find an avenue of escape. There was none, the only way out was past the changeling, who had a triumphant smile on his face.

"Let's see you run away now." Beastboy said, his voice devoid of warmth.

Aqualad gulped nervously.


	9. Not as it Appears to be

**A/N: A good song to listen to while reading this is from the Bleach anime movie "Memories of Nobody" look up the song "Ceremony Commences" on youtube. Drew a lot of inspiration from that song. Anyways enjoy.**

* * *

It had been a long chase, but finally the hunt was over. Beastboy's prey was in his sights, wounded and weak. All he had to do now was finish him off. Aqualad's face hardened and he rose to his knees.

"Fine then Beastboy." He said to the changeling, water began swirling around him. "Let's do this!" The water coalesced under the seafaring Titan and he was launched into the air, as gravity took hold, Aqualad interlaced his fingers and brought his hands down in a fierce hammerfist, intending to hit Beastboy on top of his skull.

Dust and Debris filled the dark-haired Atlantean's vision as his hands struck the floor. He had missed, the blasted green imp was faster than he thought. Beastboy blurred back into sight about twenty feet behind him.

"Looks like your balls finally dropped." The changeling taunted, he watched as Aqualad attempted to turn around and face him, but instead doubled over in pain, his right hand gripping his wounded left side. "Think it's a little too late for you though."

That got a reaction out of the wounded seafaring Titan as he snarled and charged at Beastboy. The changeling merely ducked his fist as it swung over his head and slammed his right elbow into Aqualad's chest, staggering him back a few steps. Beastboy spun around in a complete circle and lashed out with his right leg in a roundhouse kick. The heel of his right foot crashed against the dark-haired Atlantean's jaw, causing him to spin around clumsily, somehow Aqualad kept his balance, though just barely.

Beastboy stepped forward quickly, but cautiously, he could tell the fishstick still had some fight in him and he wasn't about to let himself fall prey to a cheapshot. Sure enough as he walked into melee range Aqualad struck out with his left hand again. This time Beastboy swatted the seafaring Titan's fist harmlessly away, deflecting it to his left with his right hand and countering with a knee into Aqualad's midsection. The Atlantean doubled over and the changeling took the opportunity to slam his left elbow into the back of his opponent's skull, Aqualad dropped like a box of rocks, slamming his head painfully into the floor before lying prone, his face grimacing in pain.

"Any last words?" Beastboy asked, standing triumphantly over his fallen opponent with eyes glowing red. To his surprise, Aqualad suddenly smiled, though he was still in pain.

"Might want to...look behind you." The seafaring Titan croaked out, Beastboy frowned and was about to comply when a powerful force slammed into him from behind. The changeling ended up crashing face-first into the wall, busting a human-sized hole through it.

Beastboy was rubbing his sore back as he rose to his feet. Staggering back through the breach in the stone wall he had just made, the emerald-skinned Titan's mind began to wander. Whoever had hit him was strong, his back was going to be sore for awhile from that hit. But who was it? He looked up to find Aqualad back at the center of the chamber, lying supine while a figure kneeled over him.

An all too familiar cloaked figure.

"Raven?" Beastboy called out tentatively, she responded by fixing him with a glare, a four-eyed glare. Her sudden hostility caught him off-guard, weren't they fighting side-by-side just a little while ago? What could have happened to make her fix him with such a rage-filled look?

"How could you!?" She hissed at him, "Aqualad is our friend! why would you hurt him like this?" The changeling shook his head, not believing what he was hearing.

"Friend!? He's tormented me since I got here and he also kidnapped you! He's the reason I was forced to get this damned dark magic in the first place!" The olive-skinned young man pointed at the red tattoo on his right arm for emphasis. "What kind of a friend does that?" Beastboy demanded.

"That's enough of your lies! He would never hurt his friends!" Raven denied. "Unless it was warranted." The emerald-skinned Titan's eyes narrowed.

"Are you saying I deserved what he did to me?" Beastboy questioned, his voice dangerously calm, Raven stood up from her place beside Aqualad taking a few steps so that she was in front of him, blocking Beastboy's direct path to the fishstick.

"I am." The cloaked Titan declared, her lips curled downward in a frown. "Look at what you've done to him! He's a complete mess! You've always had some sort of immature hatred for Aqualad and I'm tired of it!"

"It's not immature! Are you even listening to what I'm saying!?" The changeling yelled, "Do you even care about what he's done to me?" He searched Raven's eyes to try to find some hint of concern in them, but there was none, the only thing staring back at him were four glowing eyes filled with hatred. Hatred for him, it stung him to his very core.

"No, I don't care." Raven told him, Beastboy was so shocked by that statement that he didn't even move as a giant claw of dark energy slammed him hard into the wall.

* * *

Raven opened her eyes as her soul self returned to her body. She had hit another dead end, the presence that she had felt out in the ocean was nothing but a couple of fishermen, not Beastboy like she had hoped. Her lips curled downward in a deep frown, she refused to believe he was dead, not until she saw an actual body.

Her communicator suddenly chimed, she plucked it from her belt and opened it up, revealing Robin's face.

"The T-sub's ready to go, we're going to begin searching." He informed her, "How have things been on your end?"

"Not good." Raven replied grimly, "I can't sense Beastboy anywhere." The screen on her communicator divided as another face appeared, Starfire's.

"He will be found Raven, you need not worry." The Tamaranean reassured her, the dark girl let out a sigh of frustration.

"Can't help it unfortunately." She responded to her alien friend, "I have this terrible feeling that something is happening to him right now, something very bad. It's enraging not being able to help him." Raven's screen divided once more as Aqualad's face appeared on the screen, he was currently up to his shoulders in water. He had been searching the ocean as well.

"Raven you might have to accept the fact that Beastboy might be..." The dark-haired Atlantean started, but was suddenly cut off by the dark girl.

"No! He's alive, I have faith that we'll find him soon." She snapped sharply, Aqualad frowned

"That's all well and good, but all the faith in the world won't bring him back. The reality of the situation is that he could very well be..."

"That's enough! I get what your saying Aqualad, but I have hope that Beastboy is okay and that hope hasn't let me down yet."

"Raven..."

"We WILL find him, that's what I believe."

At this point Robin cut in, "Well we won't find Beastboy if we're arguing amongst ourselves, let's put all this energy we got to good use."

"Agreed." Raven said, with that Robin ended the transmission. The cloaked Titan put her communicator back in her belt and stared off into the ocean from her position on the beach, still floating in the lotus position. A deep feeling of dread had taken hold in the pit of her stomach, trouble was brewing, she only wished she knew what the trouble was. Closing her eyes, Raven began to meditate. The cloaked Titan had been using her soul self for an extended period of time and needed to rest before reusing it. As she chanted her mantra, her last thought before clearing her mind was of Beastboy and wishing above all else that he was safe.

* * *

Pain permeated Beastboy's entire body as he collapsed to his hands and knees, the attack had knocked the wind out of him, but that wasn't the greatest pain he was feeling at the moment. One of his best friends had just now written him off, his brain was still reeling.

Raven stared coldly at him, not a single trace of warmth in her demon eyes. "Thanks to Aqualad I have seen the truth. Why should I give two cents about some short green freak like you?" A pillar of obsidian energy dropped down onto Beastboy's spine, tearing another scream from his lips. "You with your stupid little jokes and annoying voice, day after day after day..."

"What about the time I was in your mind? When I comforted you after Malchior? Are you saying those mean nothing to you?" Beastboy gasped out, his voice shaky, this had to be some kind of trick, it had to be. Raven gestured with her hand and the obsidian pillar disappeared. The emerald-skinned Titan barely had time to register this when a dark blast of energy exploded from beneath him, sending him into the air.

"Those are merely memories." Raven replied stoically, "Fragments of the past." Beastboy felt a large piece of debris hit him right between his shoulderblades, sending him sailing forward, over the cloaked girl's head. On his way down another piece of debris cloaked in dark energy the size of his head smashed into his left temple, causing him to spin like a top as gravity finally crashed him back down to the floor. He lay prone, a bruise forming on the left side of his head and blood trickled from his split lip.

Raven turned to face him and began walking slowly towards him, stalking the olive-skinned Titan. "I can't look to the future if all I see is the past Beastboy. All those memories I have of you..." The changeling was fighting to get back on his feet, the dark girl spread her arms wide, her black energy wrapping around her like a cloak. "...are so disgusting that I could just throw up." Beastboy was breathing hard, his back was still turned to her and so he turned his head so that he could glare at her with his right eye.

"Listen to yourself, this isn't you! Aqualad has done something to you! Snap out of it Raven!" The changeling tried once more to get through to her, her eyes widened slightly and hope filled Beastboy's heart.

"Yes, he has done something to me." She spoke, a giant raven constructed from black energy appeared above her. "He's made me realize how worthless you are." The hope that Beastboy felt in his heart was quickly crushed, it felt like a vice-grip was on his heart and it was squeezing the life out of it. Raven threw her hands forward and the giant raven cawed and swooped forward towards distraught green Titan.

Pain blossomed in Beastboy's gut as the raven's beak pierced it, carrying him into the air and crashing into the torso of one of the giant cloaked statue's on the opposite wall before disappearing in an explosion of obsidian energy. The impact sent the giant statue toppling over on it's right side, a huge cloud of grey dust bloomed forward from where he landed. Raven stared at the mayhem with her four glowing red eyes, no trace of sympathy in them.

"Now do me a favor and try to at least attempt one good thing in your miserable life." She spoke out loud to the crashed statue where Beastboy impacted. "Die." The dust cleared to reveal Beastboy slumped against the fallen statue, he was on his knees, holding the wound in his abdomen with his left hand. The dark girl's attack had torn the shirt of his uniform off, revealing a chest that was riddled with bruises and small cuts. He was in too much pain to speak.

Raven turned her attention back to Aqualad, levitating until she was next to him once more and then kneeling back down to heal his wounds.

"Thanks Raven, I knew I could count on such a beautiful sorceress like yourself." The Atlantean complimented, to Beastboy's disgust Raven blushed.

"I'll always be there for you Aqualad." She confessed, Aqualad's arrogance was back in full force as he grinned.

"I know." The seafaring Titan replied, grabbing the back of Raven's head with his left hand and pulling her into a fiery kiss. Beastboy's growled and he felt his heart lurch in his throat as he watched the two embrace. This can't be real, it wasn't real, just another trick his subconscious was playing on him.

And yet.

The image of Aqualad and Raven kissing so passionately was burned into Beastboy's brain, even as he closed his eyes it was still in his mind's eye, clear as day. Her words, her glares, her cold demeanor were way more cruel than anything she had ever done to him. Right at that moment the thing Beastboy wanted the most was to walk over to the Atlantean bastard and rip his throat out. He wouldn't be able to move fast enough though, the wound in his abdomen wouldn't allow him any fast movement. The changeling glared fire at the couple making out. If he couldn't get to Aqualad himself, he'd just send something else in his place.

With his free hand, Beastboy fired a blast of orange energy, targeting Aqualad's face. Seeing this out of the corner of her eye, Raven stretched out her right hand and erected a barrier of dark energy, deflecting the emerald-skinned Titan's attack into the ceiling. Aqualad finally released Raven from their impromptu liplock and grinned evilly at the changeling.

"What's the matter green bean? Mad that I got to first base with Raven in one night while it took you years?" The dark-haired Atlantean mocked.

"Shut up!" Beastboy shouted, firing a stronger blast of orange fire from his right palm. Again, Raven shielded the seafaring Titan, this time with a wall of obsidian energy. The changeling growled in frustration as his blast expired, "Why Raven!? Why do you defend him so much?!" He demanded. The cloaked girl's four eyes narrowed.

"Why?" She repeated his question, a frown crossing her lips. "Because he is everything you are not." The sorceress made a pushing motion with her right hand and the obsidian wall slid forward at a swift pace, slamming into Beastboy and smashing him through the fallen statue, pinning him into the wall behind it. "He is tall, dashing, smart, handsome, and one hell of a kisser." Raven informed the changeling, who was unable to respond because he was being sandwiched between her obsidian energy and the wall behind him.

Finally after a few torturous moments she dismissed the obsidian wall crushing the changeling. Beastboy fell forward, this time he didn't have the strength to catch himself and his face smashed into the cold stone floor, he just laid there, not even struggling. Once again, Raven stalked towards the emerald-skinned Titan, slow and deliberate.

"And what are you exactly Beastboy? Who is the pathetic person under the green skin?" Raven continued, kneeling down in front of Beastboy's prone form. All the changeling could do was look up helplessly at the person he had once thought was most precious to him. "I'll tell you what you really are." She hissed, her demonic eyes flashing. "A whiny sniveling brat, pitied by all of those around them. A weak human being that was so pathetic he couldn't even save his own parents from a little boat accident."

Raven's words hit Beastboy like a sledgehammer, his eyes widened and it felt like his heart was being crushed. Sure, Raven has insulted him before, but she never EVER used his parents in a verbal spat. He looked up at her, his jaw open in genuine surprise. The demonic girl smiled, revealing her razor-sharp teeth.

"I'll bet daddy and mommy Logan regret having a lousy excuse of a son like you." The demoness finished, she noticed that Beastboy was trembling, she snorted in contempt. Dark energy covered her hands as she prepared to deliver the finishing blow.

That's when she was hit by the invisible freight train.

Raven sailed backwards a good seventy feet, her spine colliding hard with the wall. Not only did she hit the wall, but she was being pushed into it by the invisible force that had sent her flying. She turned her head to her left with some effort and found Aqualad there in the same predicament. Finally the pressure ceased, the demoness fell to her hands and knees and looked up at the spot where Beastboy last was. All four of her demonic eyes widened in surprise.

Standing in a ring of orange flame about twelve feet in diameter was the changeling, his feet were back under him, but his upper body was still slumped over, arms hanging limply at his sides like a broken puppet. The emerald-skinned Titan's eyes were glowing an intense orange, the brightness strong enough to force the demoness to squint. As Raven watched in stupified fascination, he stood to his full height and the dragon tattoo that was on his right arm came alive, slithering it's way across his shoulder blades to wrap around his left arm as well. Beastboy's lips peeled back in a snarl, the rumble that emitted from his throat sounded more like a lion than a human, however the dark girl was unfazed, she smiled wickedly at him.

"Awww did I hurt your little feelings?" She said to him mockingly.

"You've done more than that." The changeling answered, "You've signed your own death warrant." Raven's smile vanished after that.

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**A/N: The real Raven is still searching for Beastboy! The imposter demoness tramples on his heart! Will he recover from this?**

**Okay hype for the next chapter aside, it might be delayed more than usual. Thanks for the people who review and I hope everyone who is reading this is well entertained.**


	10. Battle of the Titans

**A/N: A big thank you for the people reviewing. Got sidetracked with other projects, but finally got around to doing this battle, let me know if you all enjoy it.  
**

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Neither Aqualad nor Raven were smiling condescendingly at him anymore, it was a start. Beastboy felt as if his very veins were on fire, but it wasn't painful, far from it. Right now, he felt he could take on anything, so what if it was dark magic, not like any of his fellow "Heroes" were here helping him now. It was time to finish this and get the hell out of this twisted purgatory his subconscious had made for him.

Beastboy moved at a speed so great that neither of his opponents registered he had moved until he was already behind them. The enraged changeling dashed between the pair, leaving behind a trail of fire where he had stepped. The wall of flame was about three meters high and effectively separated Raven and Aqualad, just what Beastboy wanted.

The emerald-skinned Titan continued to run up along the wall and then tucked his legs under him and leapt to his right, towards the dark-haired Atlantean. Aqualad was just turning his head to his right, reacting to the sound of Beastboy's boots stepping on the stone floor and wall. He didn't get far as the changeling's fist slammed into the right side of his face and he was sent sailing through the air.

Raven was still holding her arms protectively over her face from the flames Beastboy had just made when she heard the crack of someone's fist connecting. She looked past the wall of flame to see Aqualad's limp form flying through the air. The demoness' lips tightened, the changeling was faster now, just two seconds ago he was standing in front of them, and now he was knocking her Atlantean beau around like a ragdoll!

Her four eyes glowing bright red, Raven extended her right hand and fired a blast of dark energy at the wall of flame, it collided with the fire and dissipated, but the flames still remained. The cloaked demoness' tightened lips became a frown, even the flames he conjured were stronger. Suddenly a very angry Beastboy dove through the flames, grabbing Raven by her throat. She gasped and tried desperately to pry his arm off, but to no avail, with an angry roar, the changeling threw her by her throat into the feet of one of the statues, embedding her there.

Raven hissed in pain from the impact, she was about to pry herself free when Beastboy extended his right hand, a fiery aura of orange energy engulfing his body. A massive blast exploded from his palm and the demoness let out the harshest curse that she could think of from her lips. As fast as she could, the cloaked girl erected a thick barrier, trying to reinforce it in the precious second or two she had before Beastboy's blast impacted.

It was like the fist of Superman had slammed into her barrier. Raven grit her teeth from exertion as she fought to keep her barrier up, this blast was much stronger than his previous ones. All four of her demon eyes widened as she realized that the blast was breaking through the barrier.

Beastboy stared impassively at the resulting explosion, all he could hear were Raven's last hurtful words. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them out of his head and they were further incensing him. He waited for the dust to clear from the explosion, revealing a hurt Raven, she was on her hands and knees. The left sleeve of her uniform was completely gone, revealing burns all along her left arm. Her blue cloak was a tattered mess, with multiple fist-sized holes in it. All four of her eyes were clenched shut and her teeth were grit together to try and cope with the pain she was in.

"Well is that it Raven? No more verbal jabs or snide remarks? You finally at a loss for words?" Beastboy inquired, Raven didn't respond verbally instead she raised her arms and sent three razor-thin sheets of dark energy at the changeling. Beastboy snarled in contempt, cloaking his left hand in orange flame, he swatted the thin sheets of Raven's power aside like they were flies.

Crouching slightly, the changeling extended his legs and leapt into the air, performing a forward somersault before diving back down towards his former friend. Beastboy's left leg was extended, the sole of his shoe aiming for Raven's head. The dark girl dove to her right, just barely dodging the green Titan's attack. Beastboy impacted the ground instead, forming a small crater in the ground where he landed.

Raven began to levitate away, trying to get some distance between herself and the angry changeling. The dark magic within Beastboy was growing stronger by the second, which shouldn't be happening especially since the green pointy-eared Titan wasn't a magic user. He had little knowledge of magic and yet, the dragon tattoo on his torso was growing at an alarming rate. There was no way she could take him on her own now, her only hope was to hold him off long enough for Aqualad to recover.

Not even breaking pace, Beastboy immediately knelt down, the nails on his fingers extended and sharpened and he stabbed into the ground. With a grunt, the changeling ripped a huge chunk of stone from the ground with his claws and flung it at Raven. The demoness reacted by firing a blast of dark energy from her right hand, shattering the large boulder into countless tiny pebbles. Beastboy was already dashing towards her, hastily closing the distance, but she was ready for him this time.

The emerald-skinned Titan extended his right hand and slashed vertically downwards with his claws, seeking to cut up Raven's four-eyed face. Hands glowing with obsidian energy, Raven made a horizontal waving motion with her left hand from left to right, creating a small shield of dark energy that Beastboy's claws slashed harmlessly against. Still pressing on, the changeling made a horizontal swipe with his left hand this time, slashing from his left to his right. Raven once again countered by creating another small shield, this time waving her right hand vertically upwards, once again Beastboy's claws raked harmlessly across the black surface of the demoness' shield.

The changeling continued his offensive barrage, twisting around in a full three-sixty rotation and delivering a roundhouse kick aimed at the dark girl's sternum. Raven reacted by putting both of her hands in front of her, this time the small shield she erected from her hands cracked from the force of Beastboy's kick and she found herself staggering backwards. Sensing an opportunity, the pointy-eared Titan sprang forward. In desperation, Raven used her powers to erupt a burst of dark energy from beneath Beastboy. Knocking him away from her and giving the demoness some breathing room.

Beastboy rolled backwards, recovering fast and getting back to his feet quickly. He was just in time to see Raven swoop down at him, her left leg extended in a fierce kick. The changeling crossed his forearms in front of him in an 'X' position and the dark girl's foot slammed into his forearms instead of his face.

Undaunted, Raven began kicking at Beastboy rapidly with her left foot, her leg was a grey blur as it moved at high speed. There was no way for the blasted changeling to get out of this, if he tried to run, one of her kicks would score a direct hit and if he kept trying to block she would eventually wear down his defenses. A smile crossed her lips and her four eyes gleamed evilly, she was going to win.

And then Beastboy suddenly reached out with his left hand and grabbed her by her ankle.

Raven could only stare in disbelief, such a feat should have been impossible! She was kicking so fast, that trying to grab her ankle would have been like trying to thread a needle that was held by a spastic monkey. Yet, Beastboy had done exactly that. Gripping her ankle with both hands, the changeling spun Raven around like a top, building up speed. He then released her ankle and she was sent soaring towards the center of the room.

Impossibly fast, Beastboy leapt in the air, positioning himself above Raven, who was just beginning her descent back to the ground. He kicked out with both legs, his feet sinking into the demoness' gut and he heard the sound of air rushing out of her lungs. Raven crashed hard into the cold stone floor, taking the brunt of the impact with her shoulderblades and the back of her head. Beastboy landed about twenty feet in front of her, eyes glowing with dark power.

"I'm such an idiot for allowing myself to get close to you Raven, I should have known better than to trust a cold bitch like you." He hissed at her, Raven propped herself up on her elbows, she groaned in pain for a moment before giving the emerald-skinned Titan a small sinister small.

"Well at least we agree on the idiot part." The demoness replied, Beastboy frowned and was about to retort when suddenly a giant wave of water erupted from the floor in front of her. Before he could even draw breath in surprise, the changeling was engulfed by the tidal wave. The massive body of water surged forward, flowing through the chamber's exit and filling the tunnel beyond.

Moments later Aqualad landed at Raven's right, he extended his right hand and she smiled and took it. "Ever the gentleman." The demoness purred, the Atlantean grinned as he pulled her to her feet.

"Only for you my dark seductress." He answered back, turning on his charm, half a second later their lips found each other as they kissed passionately, hands exploring each other's bodies.

"Geez, you two make me want to vomit." Beastboy's voice suddenly stated, interrupting Aqualad and Raven's impromptu makeout session. They separated and looked on in shock, the pointy-eared green morphling was engulfed by orange flame easily about twenty five feet in diameter. The red dragon tattoo that covered both his arms glowed an angry red. Steam rose from all around Beastboy as the flames were actually evaporating most of the water that Aqualad had used. Once his immediate surroundings were dry, the flames around the changeling receded, hovering over him like a cloak instead of covering a large area.

"This isn't nearly as sickening as having to stare at your ugly mug Beastboy." Aqualad retorted, the emerald-skinned Titan grunted in contempt and then slammed his right palm into the ground, sending two thin lines of orange energy surging across the stone floor towards the devilish duo. Once the lines were close enough, they detonated in a big explosion of orange energy, effectively knocking Beastboy's two opponents away from each other, Aqualad sailed through the air to his left while Raven tumbled across the ground to his right.

The changeling took off like a rocket towards the dark-haired Atlantean, morphing into a rhino in mid-air before divebombing towards Aqualad. Seeing this from across the room, Raven desperately extended her right hand and shot forth a beam of dark energy. The beam traveled across the room until it was right above Aqualad, then formed into a round barrier. She made it just in time as half a second later Beastboy in rhino form smashed into the barrier.

It held for just a moment, and then the barrier shattered like glass as the jade rhino burst through it and crashed into the seafaring Titan, sending him into the ground and crushing him under the animal's massive weight. Beastboy reverted to his normal form, grabbing a motionless Aqualad by his throat with his left hand. The dark-haired Atlantean groaned in pain as the changling reared back his right hand for a brutal punch.

Something wrapped around Beastboy's right forearm, he glanced behind him to see Raven's strained face, her left hand glowing and outstretched. She was trying to hold his right arm with a tendril of dark energy. The emerald-skinned Titan exerted himself slightly and pulled his arm free of the tendril, shattering it. He was just about to resume pummeling Aqualad when a black gloved hand connected with his jaw, knocking him off of the supine fishstick.

Beastboy twisted while he was in the air, landing on his left shoulder rather than the back of his head and rolling swiftly back to his feet, just in time to be greeted by the sight of Aqualad's right fist filling up his vision. Once again, the seafaring Titan connected with his jaw, snapping the changeling's head to his right. Aqualad then shot his right foot out in a straight kick, hitting the pointy-eared morphling in his sternum.

The force of the kick caused Beastboy to backpedal a few steps. The long-haired Atlantean closed the distance between them with a few hasty steps and lunged forward with his left fist, the emerald-skinned Titan regained his balance just in time to lean to his left slightly and duck. Aqualad's fist sailed past Beastboy's right ear, the changeling immediately planted his feet, gripped the seafaring superhero's left wrist with his right hand and his left bicep with his left hand and threw the hated fishstick over his shoulder.

Aqualad landed hard on his back near the center of the room. He soldiered through the pain he was in and rose to his feet, the green pointy-eared morphling was heading towards him at a brisk pace. Aqualad greeted his fellow Titan with a left jab, Beastboy caught the punch with his right hand and countered with a headbutt to the Atlantean's forehead, wobbling him. The seafaring Titan still had some fight in him and he launched his right fist right into the changeling's gut.

Beastboy doubled over from the powerful blow and Aqualad smiled. "No matter how strong you are, you're still just a loser freak who will never have any true friends." The Atlantean gloated, the emerald-skinned Titan's response was not what Aqualad expected, Beastboy was snickering at him.

"Was that your best shot? How pitiful." The changeling replied, the fiery orange glow in his eyes flashed. "Now, let me show you mine."

Aqualad wasn't sure what happened, one moment he was in control and the next he felt Beastboy's left hand protruding from his back. The pointy-eared freak had responded with a punch so powerful it actually impaled him. Aqualad tried to form words in his mouth, but he was in too much pain for coherent thought. Beastboy glared coldly at him.

"What good are friends dude?" The changeling asked his former comrade, "If you aren't alive to enjoy their company?" and with that Beastboy surged dark magic into his left hand. Aqualad's entire body was engulfed in orange flame and he screamed in agony. The scream was cut mercifully short as the Atlantean's body disintegrated, reforming into a red orb of energy the size of a volleyball.

The red orb floated gently in front of the green Titan and he grabbed it with his left hand, he sensed power within the orb, power he could use, excitement and adrenaline coursed through him as he crushed the orb in his hands. Red light exploded from the orb and instantly saturated Beastboy, the changeling's body quickly absorbed the light and he felt himself growing stronger from it. The feeling was wonderful, it made him feel alive, more than alive, why hadn't he done this sooner?

"You killed him! You MONSTER!" Raven screamed, she leveled her four-eyed gaze at Beastboy, "When I'm finished with you, your mind and soul will be so broken your parents won't recognize you in the next world!"

The changeling was unfazed by her verbal threat, his eyes glowing with power as he awaited the demoness' next move.


	11. Losing the Light

**A/N: The end is on the horizon, not yet close, but I'm seeing it!**

**xXimmortalXx - The real Raven is still searching for Beastboy's physical body, which is lost in the ocean at the moment. Hopefully she finds him soon.**

**Shadico - In my other stories I had Beastboy overcome his "Darkness." I thought I'd take him in a different direction in this one, mwa ha ha. Also, you and I think a lot alike!**

**James - Thank you very much for the review! I can tell you that I really like reading what people think of this story.**

**Jon Frost - I'm not seeing a happy ending for Beastboy either, the question is: How horrible will the bad ending be?**

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Raven, the four-eyed demoness quickly assumed a lotus position and her soul self ejected itself from her mortal form, heading straight for the changeling. She was going to enter his mind and wreak havoc, leaving the bastard as nothing more than a vegetable.

To Raven's surprise Beastboy stood firm, staring her down. He should be running, it was his only defense, once her soul self made contact with him, it was all over. She mentally shrugged at the green Titan's lapse of judgement and dove forward, hands reaching for his face. The demoness was surprised a second time when the changeling was fast enough to grab her wrists, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"I may be a monster Raven, but you had a hand in creating me you demonic witch!" Beastboy retorted, kicking her with his right foot just below the sternum, sending her soul self flying back into her mortal form. Having her soul self forcibly shoved back into her body caused her to fall out of her levitation, she slid on the ground a few feet before recovering. The demoness propped herself up to her knees and growled at the glaring green Titan.

"I'm through playing with a pathetic green freak like you!" She exclaimed, conjuring up another giant raven with her powers. "Now die!" the raven flapped it's wings and flew forward, it's sharp beak seeking to impale Beastboy once more. The changeling was ready for it this time, slamming his right palm into the raven's beak just as it reached his melee range. He sent a pulse of his power into the bird and it fell apart right before the demon girl's horrified eyes.

Beastboy quickly capitalized on Raven's dropped guard, pointing his right index and middle finger at the dark girl and firing a thin beam of energy. The beam went right through her sternum, sending her backwards to slam spine-first into the wall before collapsing to the ground in a heap. Pain surged through Raven's entire body, it felt like her chest was on fire, she tried to get up, but went into a coughing fit, droplets of blood dripped from her lips. Weakly she raised her head to see Beastboy standing before her, his left palm outstretched and glowing with power. She had lost, despite this the demoness began laughing.

The changeling hesitated, some part of him still couldn't bring himself to deliver the finishing attack. This whole thing couldn't be real, a part of him knew that and yet the poisonous words Raven had said to him, the unbridled arrogance of Aqualad, the way they had kissed, it was so vivid, so real, so painful. He was having such a hard time dividing fantasy and reality now and the line was beginning blur for him. Even though he knew this, he couldn't stop it, he could feel himself fracturing. The part of him that was Garfield Logan was slipping away.

"No matter how strong you become, you'll always be that annoying little green bastard with the pointy ears and fangs Garfield." Raven chuckled, a line of blood flowed from the edge of her left lip down to her chin. "A circus freak, that's all you are! Your parents bore a circus freak!" The demoness mocking laughter grew louder. Beastboy's eyes narrowed in response and he released an energy blast at point blank, the mocking laughter was silenced.

The dust cleared from the green Titan's blast to reveal another floating red orb. He made no move to grab it though. Killing Raven and Aqualad should have given him a sense of satisfaction, but instead he felt empty. How had it come to this? The good times he had shared at the tower with Raven and the others seemed so far away now, but wasn't that only just a few hours ago? Beastboy didn't know anymore, he had lost track of time.

The red orb suddenly shot into the changeling's chest and Beastboy felt it's power surge through him, energize him. This time, the surge was so great that he felt himself trembling, the orb had impacted him so hard the wind had been knocked from his lungs. It took Beastboy a good fifteen seconds to get his breath back, but when he did the familiar feeling of ecstasy coursed through him. This was the only thing right now that was real for the pointy-eared morphling, the power these orbs possessed. Already his thoughts on his recent actions faded away, replaced with thoughts on how to get more of these red orbs, more power. That's right, Malchior had promised him power, if he found the "Artifact" located in this very chamber, but what the hell was this "Artifact" and what did it even look like?

That's when Beastboy felt it, an invisible tug, coming from his left, at the far end of the chamber. He followed the tug until it led him to a pile of rubble, thanks to his dark magic he was able to sense that the source of the invisible force pulling at him lie at the bottom of the debris. He knelt down and began throwing pieces of broken stone left and right, until finally he saw it.

It was a penny, but not just any penny, it was the lucky one he had given Raven before attempting to protect her from Slade years ago. The penny was glowing now, saturated in a green light. Perhaps the penny had become soaked in the magical energies released in this chamber, or maybe it was his subconscious playing tricks on him again. Beastboy shook his head, it didn't matter to him anymore, all that mattered was that he could feel some powerful magical energy coming from this little piece of metal and he was going to use it to...

...to what? His head was pounding and he groaned and cradled it with his hands. He had needed to get this to Malchior...for...for some reason, but he couldn't remember, why couldn't he remember? In frustration he pocketed the penny and made for the exit, morphing into a cheetah in the process. Perhaps the reason he had done this would return to him after a little bit. Right now he needed to get back to the dread dragon. The anticipation of acquiring more power fueled him and he dashed through the underground tunnels at record speed. Leaving behind the chamber which was now as silent as a tomb.

* * *

The blue waters stretched out as far as Raven could see. The dark Titan stood on top of a black disc of obsidian energy. Her violet eyes were downcast as she stared at the ocean's waves that rolled around a few meters below, even with Robin and the others in the T-sub searching they still had found no trace of Beastboy. Robin had called for a rendezvous at the location she was at now, both to regroup and to give Raven a chance to join them in the sub. She was exhausted from making extensive use of her soul self and needed time to rest.

Water was disturbed behind her as she sensed Aqualad break through it's surface. The dark girl didn't turn to look at him, instead keeping her eyes on the distant horizon. The sun would be setting in a few hours, they needed to find Beastboy soon, she didn't like his chances of surviving through the night without help.

If he was even alive.

Ruthlessly she drove that last thought out of her mind as Aqualad swam until he could look her in the face from his position. Raven still refused to look him in the eye, something that was becoming quite frustrating for the seafaring Titan.

"Still nothing." He reported, "The fish haven't seen Beastboy yet either." The dark girl raised an eyebrow, but kept her impassive expression.

"Is that a fact?" Raven asked in her monotone, Aqualad glared mildly at his fellow Titan.

"It is." He confirmed, "Look Raven, if you're blaming me for Beastboy being MIA then I think it's wrongly deserved. I wasn't planning on being injured." At this Raven's eyes shifted to look at him, her shoulders sagged and she sighed.

"You're right." She agreed. "It isn't your fault, I blame myself for allowing my infatuation with you to blind me to Beastboy's peril. If something has happened to him..." The dark girl wiped her eyes, fighting hard to keep tears from falling. "...Then I'll live with this mistake for the rest of my life."

Aqualad's face softened. "That won't happen Raven." He said, trying to reassure her. "If there's even the slightest chance he's still alive, then we'll find him, count on it." Before Raven could reply both of their communicator's chimed. They flipped them open to see a distorted Robin on the screen, static made it hard to hear what the masked Titan was trying to say.

"Been...attacked...y Trident...ambush...nee...istence immedi..." Robin managed to say before all that could be heard and seen was static.

"Trouble!" Raven stated with a voice slightly raised from her usual monotone, the dark girl's face hardened as she put her communicator away. Aqualad tapped a button on his own device.

"Looks like we got a lock on their ship's beacon." He informed her, "We'll have to hurry." Using his marine telepathy, he called a whale to the surface. The large creature shot water everywhere with it's arrival and Raven had to conjure up a light shield just to keep herself from getting soaked.

"What's the whale for?" The cloaked Titan asked her teammate, Aqualad was smiling at the whale, petting it's left flank.

"I can't help you breathe underwater and without the T-sub this is the only way I can think of for you to travel underwater, well physically at least." He answered, Raven's eyes narrowed and a deep frown crossed her face.

"The things I do for my friends." She grumbled, reluctantly approaching the whale.


	12. Madness and Hunger

**A/N: Writing this chapter took longer than expected because I was trying a new way out. Was going to break it into two chapters because of how long it is, but I felt it wouldn't flow right. So here it is, one big chapter, haven't done one of these in awhile. Hope you enjoy it, apologies in advance for any spelling, punctuation and grammar errors.**

**Thanks to Jon Frost and Epicenter Six for the Reviews.**

* * *

Beastboy was growing impatient.

He had returned to Malchior's crazy island with his lucky penny full of magical energy expecting more power, but all he was doing at the moment was standing in a glowing yellow circle six feet in diameter with some strange symbols on it. The glowing penny hovered in another circle about fifteen feet in front of him and beyond that stood Malchior himself, who had his hands clasped together in front of him. The dread dragon's eyes were closed and he was currently chanting some words that the changeling couldn't understand, this had been going on for about five minutes now and the green Titan was getting tired of it.

"What's taking so long?" Beastboy asked, Malchior opened his blue eyes to address him.

"Patience, it'll take me a few more minutes to complete the spell and extract the power from this, but after that you'll be home free." The disguised dragon answered, the changeling sighed and crossed his arms.

"That's good to hear, this waiting is getting old." He told Malchior, who just closed his eyes and continued his incantation. The two of them lapsed into an awkward silence for a few moments, until the green Titan broke it once again. "You know I probably don't even need the power from that stupid penny anymore to escape do I? Aqualad stopped me from getting out of here last time and he's dead now." He mused, Malchior hesitated in his incantation before once again reopening his eyes to narrow them at the changeling.

"Don't be ridiculous! Someone else would just take Aqualad's place." The dread dragon informed him, in truth he was concerned over Beastboy's rapid increases in power. All of the pointy-eared morphling's battles since he had given him the dragon tattoo were unexpected, the changeling's subconscious was busier than he had anticipated. If Beastboy decided that he didn't need Malchior's help anymore and left on his own then he'd be back to square one, trapped in that cursed book for who knows how long.

The changeling picked up on the disguised dragon's unease, "There seemed to be some hesitation there Mr. Dragon. Could it be you're lying to me?" Malchior snorted in response.

"I have no need to lie to a peasant like you, now be silent for a few more moments, I'm almost finished." The dread dragon replied, he caught sight of Beastboy's predatory smile before closing his eyes, feeling a small tingle of doubt creep into the back of his mind. The blasted changeling was becoming way too arrogant for his own good.

"If you insist." Beastboy said, his tone now amused. Malchior glared at him but continued his incantation, eventually the light between the penny and the magic circle it was floating over began to fluctuate and the dread dragon separated his hands and relaxed his stance.

"There, it's finished." The disguised dragon announced, facing his palms towards each other. "Now hold still." A sphere of golden energy appeared in between Malchior's palms, from the sphere a beam of light shot out and hit the glowing penny, causing it to glow bright enough to cause Beastboy to cover his eyes. Finally, a beam of light shot from the penny and engulfed the changeling.

The green Titan felt the familiar rush of power coursing through him. While it felt good he found it slightly disappointing. His power had increased, but it was comparable to when he defeated Adonis, nothing like what he received by beating the Beast or Raven. As the light dispersed, he looked down at his hands, a frown etched onto his face. Malchior stood triumphant, a glint in his blue eyes.

"Feels good doesn't it?" The dread dragon inquired, Beastboy flexed his hands, the frown still on his face.

"Yeah but there's something missing." The changeling noted, his frown suddenly reversing into a smirk as a great idea just came to him. "This feels like an appetizer before the main dish."

Malchior raised a white eyebrow, he wasn't in the mood for any more games. He just wanted the green bastard to uphold his end of their little deal so he could be free again. "And what pray tell, would the main dish be?" He questioned the emerald-skinned Titan, who shrugged in response.

"Oh I don't know, I was thinking of something like..." Beastboy trailed off and his nonchalant stance quickly changed to an aggressive one as he grinned maniacally at Malchior, his eyes suddenly glowing orange. "...A dragon!" The changeling took off like a rocket towards the scarf-wearing magic user, hands hungrily reaching forward. Malchior was caught off-guard for a moment, but he quickly recovered and raised his right hand, erecting a white energy barrier that Beastboy bounced off of. The emerald-skinned Titan was sent back a good fifteen feet, somehow managing not to land on his back. His shoes dug into the ground and he slid another six feet before coming to a stop. He looked up at the disguised dragon, a hungry grin on his face, Malchior's eyes narrowed.

"You seek to take my power?" The white-haired magic user asked incredulously, "Fool! Do you know what I am? I am the dread dragon! You are a mere insect to me!" Beastboy laughed at this, it wasn't his cheerful carefree laugh, it was distorted and sinister, almost as if Slade was laughing instead of him.

"Insects take what they want from lifeforms larger than them all the time, this will be no different." The changeling answered and that's when the seed of doubt was planted into Malchior's mind. The disguised dragon was now in the worst case scenario, his pawn had turned against him and would now have to be destroyed, who knew how long until he stumbled upon another?

"Damn you!" Malchior hissed, bringing both of his hands forward and firing a thick beam of ivory energy at Beastboy. The changeling ran to his left, staying just ahead of the beam. Suddenly, the green Titan aimed his left palm at the dread dragon and fired a blast of orange energy at him.

Malchior snarled in annoyance as he was forced to cancel his beam to erect a kite shield made of white energy to block Beastboy's blast. The dread dragon immediately counterattacked by firing a volley of small projectiles at the changeling, to his surprise the crazed morphling charged into the volley of small energy blasts, actually slicing them apart with his claws. It shouldn't have been possible, but the disguised dragon had no time to dwell on it.

Beastboy continued his mad dash towards Malchior, slicing up any projectile that stood in his path, his hands moving so fast it was merely a green blur. In mere seconds he reached melee range with the white-haired sorceror, but before he could mount an assault Malchior lashed out with his left fist, striking the crazed Titan in the jaw. As Beastboy was knocked back by the blow he lashed out with his right claw, creating a shockwave from the swipe that managed to land a solid hit on the left side of the dread dragon's face. Malchior could feel something wet leaking down his left cheek, by the scent he could tell it was his own blood, the damned changeling had actually cut him!

At this point gravity had finally brought Beastboy back to the ground spine-first. As he landed he immediately rose to his knees, but an incensed Malchior was already in his face, slamming his left boot into his sternum. The maddened Titan was staggered from the attack and the disguised dragon tried to press his advantage, seeking to slam his right fist into Beastboy's skull. The changeling was able to roll to his left to avoid the blow.

As Beastboy rolled to a crouching position behind and slightly to the right of Malchior, he kicked out with right foot, catching the white-haired sorceror in the back of his right knee and causing Malchior to drop down on his right kneecap. The crazed Titan immediately capitalized and twisted around so he was facing the dread dragon's back, slamming his left elbow into the back of his opponent's skull. Malchior found himself on his hands and knees and before he could collect himself Beastboy booted him in the ribs with his right foot.

The dragon in disguise found himself tumbling across the ground, even slamming into and breaking through the trunk of a tree before landing at the island's beach. He impacted the dark red sand face-first and he silently thanked the mask he wore over his mouth, otherwise he'd be spitting out sand for days. As he rose to a kneeling position he saw the changeling racing towards him, a sadistic grin on his face and a mad gleam in his eye. Malchior couldn't believe he was being manhandled by this little green man, he had definitely read him wrong. He'd have to end this now before he became real trouble.

"You seem to have forgotten who you are dealing with changeling!" Malchior roared to his opponent, standing tall and spreading his arms wide, "Let me remind you!" The dragon's next move caused Beastboy to stop in his tracks, his glowing orange eyes looking on with concern at the display before him.

Malchior had summoned two large glowing white arms, but not just any arms, they were the arms and claws of a dragon. Three clawed fingers and a thumb flexed on either side of the white-haired sorceror, scales adorned the arms and fingers and what looked like pearl-white smoke was emanating from them. As the crazed Titan watched, Malchior gestured with his right hand and the magically constructed giant arm on his right closed it's hand into a fist. The arm rose into the air and then crashed down onto the sandy ground.

Although Beastboy was luckily a few feet from the giant fist when it impacted. The shockwave the attack created coupled with his close proximity sent him flying back. This time he landed on his left side, sliding across the dark red sand a few feet before managing to stop his backwards momentum.

So the dragon still had some fight in him, Beastboy was actually glad for this. It was too boring when the prey was so easy to catch, this would make his victory all the more enjoyable. Malchior was tough, there was no doubt about that, but he was not invincible.

The changeling's thoughts were interrupted when he saw the other giant hand close into a fist and streak towards him. He went to move, but the few precious moments he needed to execute a dodge were ruined when he couldn't find purchase in the red sand he was lying in. Beastboy mentally cursed, the fist was going to make contact in another second and he needed to be somewhere else now!

To the crazed Titan's immense surprise, he did go somewhere else suddenly. Instead of lying on the ground he was now hanging in mid-air, the change happening so fast he was dumbstruck, looking into the blue eyes of Malchior who looked just as shocked as he was. The white-haired sorcerer quickly recovered and grabbed Beastboy out of the air with the giant right hand.

Malchior's jaw set grimly as he used the giant hand to begin squeezing the life out of Beastboy. What the changeling just did wasn't high-speed movement, it was teleportation, though it was only a short distance he shouldn't have been able to do it at all. The damned brat hadn't woven a magic spell in his life and here he was doing teleportation!? Things were quickly getting out of hand.

Beastboy meanwhile was straining against the giant hand slowly crushing him. Despite his newfound strength he was unable to free himself. The crazed Titan cried out in pain as the hands grip grew tighter, using the pain to fuel his anger Beastboy delved deeper into his power. Straining every muscle in his body to it's limit, not only did the changeling free himself from the giant hand's grip, but the resulting burst of energy he emitted actually destroyed the hand.

The magically constructed hand's destruction caused Malchior's focus to lapse and the other giant arm disappeared because of it. The dread dragon had a moment to try and figure out what just happened before the now freed Beastboy bombarded him with a vehicle-sized fireball, striking him square in the center of his chest. As soon as the fireball made contact it exploded, sending Malchior sailing through the air to land in the inky black water. The white-haired dragon in disguise emerged from the dark liquid completely drenched, a little ways from the shore.

Beastboy grinned widely, "Think I still need reminding on who I'm dealing with dude!" He shouted, extending his left leg in a diving kick. The dread dragon sidestepped to his right and the changeling crashed into the spot he just occupied a moment before, spraying water and sand all over the place.

"I'll be happy to oblige!" Malchior responded, before he could make good on his threat the crazed Titan charged forward, trying to uppercut him in the jaw with his right hand, but the dragon in disguise merely leaned back and Beastboy's fist whizzed through the air just centimeters in front of Malchior's face. The changeling followed through by delivering a roundhouse kick with his left foot which Malchior avoided by crouching under it.

Missing the roundhouse left Beastboy open to attack and the dread dragon took full advantage, burying his left fist into the crazed Titan's abdomen. Malchior then proceeded to land a mean right hook to his opponent's jaw. The dragon in disguise finished his combination by slamming his left foot into Beastboy's right ear, causing the changeling to fall onto his left side, sliding across the sand for a few feet. The pointy-eared morphling growled and pushed off from the ground with his hands and feet, seeking to take things to the air, but Malchior ended his plan by creating a quick hand construct with his magic. The conjured hand was about the size of an average human and it slammed it's palm right onto Beastboy's back, returning him unceremoniously to the sandy ground.

Malchior smirked under his mask as he heard his failed pawn grunt in pain. "You were a fool to try and fight me changeling!" He declared, "I may not have my full strength here, but it still far exceeds yours!" Their little skirmish lasted longer than anticipated, but the dread dragon had him now, with Beastboy eating a mouthful of dark-red sand he was in no position to defend himself.

Beastboy spat out a mouthful of the sand he had accidentally swallowed when that stupid hand of Malchior's grounded him. He looked up and saw the dragon in disguise raising his hands above his head and gathering his power for a magic blast that would surely finish him. The crazed Titan smirked, he had taken the bait.

With unnatural swiftness, Beastboy unearthed his hidden right hand from the blood-colored sand. All his other limbs were trapped by Malchior's little hand construct except his right arm. He had kept it buried in the sand in hopes that the stupid dragon wouldn't notice and leave himself open with his next attack. The changeling was not disappointed, he quickly aimed his right palm at Malchior's idiotic face and fired a quick blast of orange fire.

The dread dragon's face became a bed of pure agony as Beastboy scored a direct hit with his spell. Malchior screamed in pain, backpedaling rapidly as he held his damaged face with his left hand. Once again, his loss of concentration caused his spells to dissipate and the large hand construct that was pinning the crazed Titan to the ground vanished.

Beastboy immediately sprang to his feet and made a mad dash for Malchior. To the dread dragon's credit he tried to fire a blast at the changeling with his free right hand to halt his advance, but Beastboy easily ducked under it. Malchior then tried to kick the crazed Titan in the left side of his head with his right leg, from a crouching position Beastboy grabbed the white-haired sorcerer's right shin with his left hand before it could reach his skull.

Letting his lust for power fuel him, the crazed Titan tossed Malchior's right leg aside, leaving the dragon in disguise stumbling for balance. Before he could regain it Beastboy planted his right knee into the dread dragon's gut, doubling him over. The changeling then lashed out at Malchior's face with a right-left combination with his fists, further dazing the white-haired sorcerer.

Beastboy was ready to end this fight, morphing into a green ape, he executed a fierce uppercut with his right hand, connecting solidly with Malchior's jaw. The dragon in disguise was once again sent flying, this time away from the beach and back to the center of the island, plowing through several trees and other vegetation in the process. Eventually Malchior landed spine-first in a decent-sized clearing, no obstacles in sight for a good hundred feet, just some tall grass. The white-haired sorcerer lay sprawled out on his back, groaning in pain as Beastboy landed thirty feet from him, back in his normal form.

"Your power exceeds mine?" The changeling questioned sarcastically, "Now that's a joke." Malchior had managed to prop himself up on his elbows at this point, he glared at Beastboy with his right eye as his left was clenched shut from pain.

"Tread lightly Beastboy." Malchior hissed, "You deal with a dread dragon." To his surprise, the crazed Titan actually laughed at him.

"Could have fooled me dude." Beastboy replied, gripping his right shoulder with his left hand and making circles with his right arm, trying to loosen some muscles, "How about you show me what's so dreadful about you? Besides that stupid scarf you wear." The dragon in disguise felt his blood begin to boil from the changeling's words, rising to a kneeling position.

"You dare!?" Malchior snarled, his hands starting to glow with power, "I will annihilate you!" Beastboy yawned in response.

"With what? Words? Have fun with that." The crazed Titan taunted, the dread dragon's teeth ground in rage at Beastboy's arrogance. Standing to his full height, Malchior raised his hands above his head, conjuring up a large dragon's head made from his magic power. Before Beastboy could blink, the dragon head opened it's jaws and breathed out a huge wave of flame, completely engulfing the changeling in it.

Malchior let the flames go for a good six seconds before stopping, he had roasted not only Beastboy, but a good section of the island. Pillars of dark grey smoke billowed up from the areas the flames had touched, the smoke coalesced into a huge column as it gained altitude. The dragon in disguise leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. The spell was highly destructive, but it also took a huge toll on him. Still, it was worth it, the arrogant green bastard was dead and although he had to start again from scratch it was still better than having some power-hungry mongrel after him.

Then the smoke cleared, revealing a massive green Tyrannosaurus Rex, a red dragon tattoo snaked around it's entire body, aside from a few scrapes and burns it looked fit to fight. Malchior couldn't believe it, no he wouldn't believe it, his best attack and the changeling still wasn't dead? It was...it was...

"This is impossible!" The dragon in disguise bellowed, "You should be dead! You should be..." He never got to finish as the Tyrannosaurus reached down with it's massive jaws, it's front-most teeth biting down on Malchior's waist. Fiery pain exploded from that area for the white-haired sorcerer and the dinosaur lifted him into the air, shook him violently a few times and then released it's grip, flinging him into another nearby section of the island.

Malchior violently bounced off the ground a few times before finally coming to stop, he lay on his back in agonized torment. His whole body hurt and when he tried to move the pain amplified, weakly the dragon in disguise raised his head to see Beastboy in his normal form approaching him. The changeling's eyes glowing orange and gleaming with madness while a triumphant smirk was plastered on his face. Reality finally sunk in for Malchior, he had lost the battle and now was going to lose more.

The dread dragon struggled to speak, trying one last trick to escape his fate. "Damn it Beastboy! I gave you the power to defend yourself in here..." He trailed off as he started coughing. "...We had a deal!" Beastboy didn't even slow his pace as he walked up to the supine dragon and lifted him by his throat with his right hand.

"Yeah we did have a deal, but that was about freeing you after I got out of here." The crazed Titan replied, his orange glowing eyes narrowed and his smirk turned into a grin. "Besides, what if you had an 'Unfortunate Accident?' well there wouldn't be anything left to free now would there?" Malchior tried to respond, but the changeling's grip on his throat prevented him from doing so. "As for giving me power? You're right you did." Beastboy agreed, raising his left hand so that the palm was aimed at the dread dragon's chest, he smiled widely, showing off his fangs. "And now you'll give me more."

Orange fire flew out of Beastboy's left hand and enveloped Malchior. The defeated dragon howled in torment as his flesh and bone body transformed into a familiar crimson orb of energy. The crazed Titan wasted no time, grabbing the orb with both hands and actually shoving it into his mouth, the orb was tasteless, but the power that began to course through his body was far from unnoticeable. The changeling felt his body strain from the sudden influx of energy flowing through it and with this new power came flashes of memory. He closed his eyes and drowned himself in them.

* * *

_"Come on Raven! Just one time!" He exclaimed, he was currently standing in front of Raven's door, the dark girl had at least opened it fully. Currently her hood was down and she had her arms crossed in front of her, a mild glare on her grey face._

_"No." Came Raven's simple monotone response, Beastboy wasn't ready to give up yet on his goal.  
_

_"We've known each other for years, is one date really too much to ask for?" He pleaded, it had been several months since Tokyo and Beastboy had recently had a revelation that he had feelings for Raven, strong feelings. The changeling felt that with Trigon banished, Slade in hiding, Brother Blood in prison and the Brotherhood of Evil frozen indefinitely he could maybe take a few steps towards a more normal life and that meant pursuing the girl who was always on his mind in some form or another. It was an uphill battle, the green Titan knew it was going to be, but he was ready for the challenge._

_"I don't do dating." Raven answered him, her eyes narrowing, Beastboy felt his spirits sink._

_"Even with me?" The changeling inquired, his face betraying the hurt he felt, "All those moments we had, do they not mean anything to you?" He said softly, could he had been wrong? Could he had misread Raven all this time? Much to his relief, the violet-eyed girl's face softened considerably at his words._

_"They do...you know they do..." Raven responded, hope surged through Beastboy's veins._

_"Then lets go out tonight, just the two of us, see where this goes." The changeling told her, "Who knows? You might be happily surprised." He finished, wagging his eyebrows. Raven's face reverted to her stoic mask._

_"I'll think about it."_

* * *

Beastboy remembered, that was from this morning and then Jump City beach got attacked by Trident. That's when Aqualad showed up.

* * *

_The Titans were having a tough time with Trident this time, he fought them like a man possessed and what was worse was that whenever he started to be at a disadvantage he'd target some of the innocent bystanders who were still trying to flee the beach. After one exchange between himself and the young superheroes the villain smiled, twirling the weapon that was his namesake. Trident was about to attack the Titans again when a huge tidal wave suddenly appeared from the nearby water and who was riding the wave? Why none other than the seafaring Titan, Aqualad himself. Starfire and Raven immediately let out cries of glee upon sighting the Atlantean and Beastboy found himself sulking. Moments later, the immense wave washed over the supervillain and Aqualad leapt down from the water in front of the Titans, striking an arrogant pose._

_"Looks like he's all washed up." The Atlantean quipped, "Good to see you guys again."_

_"Aqualad, I um, what are you doing here?" Raven asked, her cheeks a noticeable crimson, Robin crossed his arms in front of him._

_"Yes, last I heard from Bumblebee you were on vacation." The masked Titan noted, Aqualad sighed._

_"Well I WAS on vacation, but as I was heading back to Atlantis Trident decided he wanted to bully some of my friends in there." The seafaring Titan said, pointing to the ocean for emphasis. "He gave me the slip and I tracked him here."_

_Beastboy frowned, "So you just happened to be near Jump City when all this went down?" The changeling asked skeptically, Aqualad smirked at him._

_"You got it, and what a lucky coincidence indeed..." Aqualad answered, turning his gaze upon Raven, "...to feast my eyes on such a lovely lady." He finished, Raven was blushing even harder now._

_"Um, you talking to me?" She questioned, almost squeaking. Seeing this, Beastboy felt his annoyance growing. Aqualad smiled at the dark girl_

_"There is no one else as lovely as you for miles Raven, in the land or sea." The Atlantean informed her, Raven gave a laugh, a nervous girlish laugh and Beastboy felt the annoyance grow into bitterness, Raven had never laughed like that around him, no matter what joke or prank he tried._

_"Thank you." The cloaked girl responded, blushing furiously. The moment was interrupted when Trident threw his weapon at Cyborg, skewering the bionic Titan's right arm. As Cyborg tried to remove the offending object from his arm, the supervillain dove forward, tackling Starfire out of mid-air. Robin drew his staff once more, turning to the rest of the Titans._

_"Let's save the talk for later, Trident still needs to be stopped." The masked Titan said and with that leapt after the supervillain. Aqualad returned his attention to Raven flashing his most winning smile._

_"How about I treat you like the goddess you are, lets go out for dinner tonight after we finish up here." The Atlantean proposed, Raven's eyes widened and her knees went weak for a moment from elation, Aqualad was asking her out!_

_"It's a date!" The dark girl accepted immediately, much to Beastboy's dismay. Aqualad winked at her and took off to assist Robin. Raven was about to follow when she felt a hand on her right shoulder, Beastboy's. She cast an annoyed glance at him._

_"Raven what about..." He started, but was interrupted when the dark girl shoved her face just inches from his and gave the fiercest glare she could muster._

_"Do not ruin this for me idiot." She threatened and then took flight to join the battle, leaving a disheartened and very sad Beastboy behind. Although his feelings had been hurt, he was still disciplined enough to put them aside to deal with the threat before them. Hiding his pain behind his usual mask, he transformed into a bird to join the fight as well._

* * *

Beastboy's lips peeled back in a snarl as it all came back to him. They had chased Trident back into the sea and Aqualad pursued him with Raven and himself following as backup. The stupid fishstick got himself injured, forcing Raven to attend to him and Trident tried to take advantage. That was when he threw the three-pronged spear at his cloaked friend's back and he had intercepted it.

More images and words appeared in the changeling's mind only these were unfamiliar to him. They were images of castles, men in medieval armor and weapons. As the image of a very familiar white-haired sorcerer popped up, Beastboy realized that these were Malchior's memories. He found himself startled by how fast and forceful they were invading his mind. The crazed Titan felt his grip on his identity slipping and panicked, was the essence of Malchior he had absorbed trying to take him over?

Beastboy resisted fiercely, countering the alien images with familiar ones of his own. He felt himself regaining the mental ground he had lost and continued pushing. When suddenly more voices made themselves known in his head.

_"Fighting against the inevitable, like a mangy mutt that needs to be put out of it's misery."_

The changeling flinched, that was Aqualad's voice, words he had spoken to him earlier on.

_"What exactly are you Beastboy? Who is the pathetic person under the green skin?"_

Beastboy flinched again, that one was Raven, he tried to block the voices out, but they kept speaking.

_"A weak human being that was so pathetic he couldn't even save his parents from a little boat accident."_

He groaned and cradled his head in his hands, his eyes still clenched shut.

_"All you can offer her are bad jokes and unclipped toenails."_

_"All those memories of you are so disgusting that I could just throw up."_

_"He's made me realize how worthless you are."_

_"You will have nothing."_

Beastboy grit his teeth, summoning all of his mental power to push the voices out of his mind, but they seemed to actually be pushing back. To make matters worse, he could feel Malchior's memories start to flood his head again. The combined strain was too much for the green Titan and he felt himself being overwhelmed.

_"A circus freak! That's all you are! Your parents bore a circus freak!"_

_"I'll bet mommy and daddy Logan regret having a lousy excuse of a son like you."_

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Beastboy shouted, but it was in vain, the storm of memories voices and emotions engulfed his mind. The little piece of him that was still Garfield Logan hung on for dear life in the midst of the mental storm, but eventually that piece was uprooted to join the fusion of personalities that was happening.

And that's when it struck Beastboy, Malchior wasn't taking over, his personality and memories, everything that was the dread dragon was combining with him, not erasing. The combined personalities were becoming something new, something more. At this realization, Beastboy stopped resisting the change and instead welcomed it.

Power surged from the crazed Titan, creating a huge explosion that covered the entire island, reducing it to a barren landscape. As it subsided, it revealed Beastboy in the center of a huge crater, smoke emanating from his body. The red dragon tattoo that adorned his arms was gone and his green skin was now red, his pupil-less eyes appeared to be wreathed in orange flame when he opened them, staring across the destroyed landscape. His uniform was repaired, but the costume was now red and black rather than purple and black. He felt different now too, way different than anything else he felt before.

"Time to leave this wretched place." Beastboy announced, his voice heavily distorted.


	13. Flames and Darkness

**A/N: Thanks to OMAC001, Jon Frost, James and the two guests for their reviews.**

**I'm getting close to the end here, so I hope you all enjoyed the ride. Any spelling or grammatical errors are purely on accident.**

* * *

Beastboy opened his eyes to the sight of clear blue water all around him. The colors, the sea life, the sounds, they were all normal, he was finally free. He should have been elated, but he instead all he felt was bitterness, hatred...and hunger. The power he had gained in his personal hell was still with him, stronger than ever.

First things first, the changeling needed to find the bastard that had put him through that purgatory in the first place. Even with all his newfound power, he didn't possess the ability to sense other beings like Raven did, he still had to rely on his animal instincts. He had been unconscious for too long though and the ocean was a big place, he had no idea where to even begin to search.

His right hand brushed something metallic and Beastboy immediately perked up, he had been in purgatory for so long he completely forgot about his belt and the communicator inside! Quickly the changeling pulled it out and flipped it open, several beeping dots appeared on his screen. As he etched the coordinates into his mind he smiled a wide toothy smile.

Soon. Very soon.

* * *

A dozen energy blasts tried to track a yellow and purple streak through a cavernous tunnel, it danced around in the air, avoiding the barrage and answering with green energy blasts of it's own. The streak then continued it's retreat, flying past a pile of rocks on the ground that partially plugged the tunnel, as it passed it blurred back into the familiar form of Starfire. The other two Titans, Robin and Cyborg, had been hiding behind the pile of rocks, they stuck their heads up to throw some explosive discs and fire a sonic blast respectively. The two male superheroes were then forced to duck back down under the cover the rock pile provided as their enemies returned fire.

While searching for Beastboy in the T-sub, Robin had the idea to check out Trident's old lair, the one he had used to clone himself. They found the exit reopened and went in to investigate, and what they found wasn't quite what they were expecting. The three Titans had parked the T-sub at the natural moon pool and got out to investigate. They had barely gone thirty feet when they reached the large room that had housed Trident's clones and were ambushed.

The creatures were dark-green, bloated and disfigured, some had disproportionate eyes or one eye. Most of them limped when they walked and although they wouldn't be dangerous with just a few, there were more than thirty of them just from what Robin had first seen. All of them had at least one thing in common, they were using tridents as weapons. Starfire, Cyborg and himself were forced to retreat to the large room's entrance.

They had shot out a chunk of the ceiling, creating a pile of rock to use for cover from the blasts the creatures were firing at them. It was around this time that Robin used his communicator to call Raven and Aqualad for help, Beastboy would have to wait unfortunately. So far their battle was at a stalemate, with the Titans occasionally trying to make pushes through the mass of creatures, failing, and being forced to retreat to the relative safety of the rock pile. Starfire had been the latest one to try this.

"I do not remember Beastboy telling us about these deformed creatures." The Tamaranean spoke, Cyborg was tapping a few buttons on his right forearm, watching the little screen on it intently.

"That's because they probably weren't deformed when he saw them last Star." The bionic Titan replied, "Bioscan's picking up cellular degeneration at a rapid rate from those clones."

Starfire blinked and frowned, "They are dying?"

"Trident probably only wanted them around for a few good heists." Robin explained, "They weren't supposed to have lived for an extended period of time like this."

Their conversation was interrupted as Aqualad leapt through the moonpool, landing gracefully on his feet behind the three Titans. A moment later a giant whale surfaced next to the T-sub, it opened it's mouth and spat out a very unhappy Raven, who was coated in whale spit. The dark girl managed to right herself in mid-air and levitate safely to the ground. Starfire beamed and opened her mouth to speak.

"Not. One. Word." Raven snarled, glaring sharply at her friends, Starfire pouted in response. Aqualad took a few steps forward, moving in on Robin's right to get a better look at their attackers.

"Are those...?" Aqualad began, but was interrupted.

"Trident's deteriorating clones." Robin confirmed. "They ambushed us, but we managed to escape and dig in here." The masked Titan produced two birdarangs in his right hand and flung them into the crowd of deformed clones, hitting their hands and disarming a few of them. "We still can't push past to get to Trident though."

Raven's face returned to it's normal stoic expression as she turned to address her leader, "What's the plan?" Robin's eyes narrowed as his mind began rapidly working to come up with a solution for their dilemma, in the span of a few seconds he had a plan.

"We'll need a diversion first." The masked Titan announced, "Aqualad can you..." He never got to finish as he heard something else splash out of the moon pool behind him. Not even a second later something heavy slammed into his right side, knocking him into the left wall. Robin felt his head hit against the unforgiving stone and collapsed to his knees holding his ringing skull with his right hand. What the hell had hit him?

The Titan leader got his answer when he looked and saw through blurry vision that the rock pile they had been using for cover was completely obliterated. As he shook the cobwebs out of his head he noticed the shocked expressions on his team's faces, especially Raven, who's skin was even paler if that was even possible. He followed their eyes to see what had spooked them so and soon joined them in their surprise.

Crouching in a ring of fire was Beastboy, but it didn't take Robin's detective skills to realize something was wrong. The green skin was now blood-red and the purple in his costume was now crimson. Slowly the changeling stood to his feet, he glanced behind him and that's when the Titans saw the fiery orange eyes without pupils. They seemed to be boring holes into them, looking into their souls, after a moment Beastboy looked away, staring down the group of deformed Trident clones who had also stopped fighting at his arrival.

"No way..." Aqualad said.

"I can't believe..." Cyborg spoke.

"Is it really...?" Starfire questioned

"It is." Robin confirmed.

"Beastboy..." Was all Raven could say. The deformed clones got over their surprise faster than the Titans did and focused their blasts on the red changeling. The ring of fire that he was standing in came alive, reaching for the ceiling and effectively protecting him from the barrage of blasts that the clones sent his way. Once the attacks expired the flames receded and disappeared completely, Beastboy's face was cast downward.

"Looks like you broke your toys Trident." The corrupted Titan said to no one, his lips curling upward and revealing his fangs in a smile full of maniacal glee, "Time to throw them in the trash."

Beastboy extended both of his hands, pressed his middle fingers to his thumbs and snapped his fingers, creating a shockwave so powerful that it bowled through the clones like they weren't even there, sending most of them into the air. They crashed back down to the ground like a meteor, only three were left standing and they decided to charge the red-skinned changeling. One tried to stab him in the chest with it's trident, Beastboy simply held out his left hand and a glowing vertical disc of energy appeared in front of it. The clone's weapon made contact with the disc and disappeared into it, leaving the deformed monstrosity weaponless.

The ruby-skinned Titan quickly grabbed the clone's right wrist with his left hand, his fingers glowing orange as they began to burn the deformed creature. It howled in agony and Beastboy silenced it with a right hook to it's jaw, sending it into another of it's brethren. The last of the clones tried an overhead strike with it's trident, but the changeling merely caught the weapon by it's pole, just under the three sharp prongs. He delivered a swift kick to the deteriorating clone's stomach, disarming it and sending it into the air, then he batted it back towards the other two using it's own weapon. The weaponless clone crashed into the other two and the trio tumbled backwards to join the other mass of unconscious clones in the former cloning area.

"Garbage." Beastboy sneered, disintegrating the trident in his hands with flame, Starfire flew towards him, beaming.

"Friend you have returned!" She shouted in joy, Robin took off after his girlfriend, quickly followed by Aqualad.

"Star wait! Don't..." The masked Titan didn't get to finish as Beastboy raised his right arm and made a flicking motion with his right hand. An invisible sledgehammer seemed to slam into Starfire's right collarbone and she reversed direction, crashing into Robin and Aqualad. The three Titans were thrown past the others from the invisible force that the changeling had hit them with, they ended up landing in a tangled mass of limbs about twelve feet from the moon pool.

Beastboy took two steps forward when he felt something wrap around his torso, binding his arms to his sides, it was a metal cable, courtesy of Cyborg. Glancing down, he also noticed some familiar obsidian energy flowing up his legs, encasing him up to his neck. His smile disappeared as Raven flowed up from the ground in front of him, the two locked eyes and Raven's usually stoic expression was nonexistent at the moment. Her eyes were wide with fear and uncertainty.

The dark girl's mind was racing, how could Beastboy change this much in such a short time? His whole body was saturated with dark magic and she could almost taste the hatred and bitterness rolling off of him. Her only consolation was that she now knew how he had survived Trident's attack, someone had infused him with dark magic, but who? Trying to look into Beastboy's mind would be too risky in his current state, there was only one way she was going to get an answer.

"Who did this to you Beastboy?" She asked him softly, he stared at her for a moment before the grin returned.

"I did." He answered simply, Raven was shocked speechless.

"What?" She said out loud, Beastboy had not wielded any sort of magic since she met him, there was no way he could have done this to himself and yet he said it with such certainty that it unnerved her. The changeling's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"You're in the way." He told her, inhaling a breath and then exhaling, creating a wall of flame that covered the entire tunnel. Caught off-guard, Raven raised a sphere of dark energy around herself just barely in time. She caught the flames at an angle and they pushed her into the wall on her left, bouncing her off of it. The cloaked Titan was then bounced from the left and right walls several times before she couldn't hold her shield anymore, finally crashing into the wall on her right with no protection from her powers. Raven groaned as she lay embedded in the stone surface.

Having witnessed this Cyborg tightened the metal wire he had shot from his right hand, hoping to better secure his red-skinned friend. "Don't do this man." The bionic Titan pleaded, "I don't know who's turned you into a tomato stain, but we're your friends, we're not going to hurt you." Beastboy turned his head to his left, so he could look at Cyborg with his left eye, a sinister smirk on his lips.

"You're right you won't." The changeling replied, orange fire traveled up the wire and Cyborg was forced to detach it before the fire could spread to him. The metallic superhero leapt back, but had no time for any further maneuvers as Beastboy blurred into sight in front of him. The corrupted Titan lashed out with the claws on his right hand, digging three deep gouges into his bionic friend's chest, the force of the blow accelerated Cyborg's backwards momentum and he sailed over the T-sub to land back in the moon pool.

Beastboy landed back on his feet with a slight frown on his face, "Also, tomato stain? Really?" He said dryly, the changeling was about to turn around and begin looking for Trident when his legs were suddenly tripped by something. Unable to recover fast enough, Beastboy fell onto his back, he managed to prop himself up on his elbows before a cold metallic end of a staff was pressed to his throat. Robin stood over him, his lips pressed into a grim line.

"Back down Beastboy, you don't want to do this." The masked Titan demanded, the corrupted Titan grinned widely, baring his fangs.

"Now that's a joke." The changeling replied and with that he morphed into a ruby-scaled cobra, slithering up Robin's staff to wrap around the Boy Wonder's arms and upper torso, squeezing and immobilizing him. The Titans' leader grit his teeth to keep from crying out as he felt his bones begin to crack. The cobra's head was positioned behind the masked Titan's right shoulder and it opened it's mouth wide, ready to bite when an orange-skinned hand grabbed it's neck.

"Please friend! You must stop!" Starfire pleaded, the cobra became a kangaroo, kicking the Tamaranean in the abdomen and bouncing her off the wall. As she came back to the red changeling's melee range he morphed into a sasquatch and executed a nasty uppercut with his right hand, catching her in the jaw and sending her into the ceiling, the orange-skinned Titan did not fall back down.

Beastboy reverted back to his normal form, satisfied with his handiwork. The sound of someone groaning to his left drew his attention and he set his gaze there to see Aqualad on his knees, rubbing the back of his skull in pain. Excitement flowed through the changeling's veins, one of the people he wanted to destroy the most.

Movement behind the corrupted Titan was sensed and Beastboy lashed out with a mule kick, his right foot connecting solidly with Robin's sternum before he could attack him. The now airborne masked Titan was caught by Raven who had just recovered, unfortunately Robin was traveling at too fast a speed and the Boy Wonder ended up smashing into the dark girl. She landed spine-first onto the cold hard stone floor with Robin on top of her. Beastboy turned back to Aqualad and began approaching him at a slow and deliberate pace, the Atlantean adopted a fighting stance, his face full of determination.

"I don't want to fight you Beastboy." The seafaring Titan announced, the red-skinned changeling snorted in response.

"That's too bad, really makes things anticlimactic don't you think?" Beastboy asked, continuing his approach, Aqualad gulped nervously and took a step back.

"Stay back, I'm warning you." The Atlantean threatened, at this the corrupted Titan laughed long and hard.

"Oh no! I'm being threatened by a walking sardine!" Beastboy shouted, laughing even harder, Aqualad growled helplessly. He was tempted to try and strike the changeling in his stupid face, but the fact that he had taken down the rest of the team gave him pause. "What're you going to do? Summon some goldfish? Maybe you'll shoot some water at me? Hey I could use the shower I guess!" At this point the corrupted Titan was holding his sides as he was laughing. Aqualad had had enough, stupid move or no, he was tired of Beastboy making a mockery of him.

The seafaring Titan spread his arms out wide, and two thick pillars of water emerged from the moon pool. As they traveled towards the changeling they conjoined into one huge pillar that slammed into Beastboy, or they would have if the corrupted Titan had not extended his right hand and fired a blast into the water. The blast parted the large pillar down the middle, water flowed on either side of the changeling, but not a drop touched him.

While Beastboy was busy keeping the water at bay, Aqualad leapt high into the air and then dove towards the corrupted changeling, bringing his left fist forward in a devastating punch aimed at his target's face. In the blink of an eye, Beastboy raised his left hand and caught the Atlantean's fist before it could reach him. Aqualad could only stare wide-eyed and shocked, the pillar of water had finally expired, leaving the seafaring Titan hanging in the air for one single terrifying moment of vulnerability.

Beastboy smirked at his opponent, "I'm trembling in my boots!" he said to Aqualad before tugging on the Atlantean's left fist and dragging him down. The changeling reared forward and headbutted him hard in the face, he heard something snap and the seafaring Titan cried out in pain, then the morphling tossed him onto his back, morphed into an ape and was all over him. Beastboy's fists slammed repeatedly into Aqualad's face, the Atlantean had no answer for the pummeling he was receiving and could only grunt and groan in pain as each punch connected.

"Stop!" A raspy voice exclaimed, the red ape stopped it's hammering of the brutalized Atlantean to look behind him, catching sight of Raven who was in a kneeling position, breathing heavily. Beastboy's eyes narrowed as he studied her before reverting back to his normal form, releasing Aqualad from his grip before walking towards her. Starfire's unconscious form finally dislodged from the ceiling thanks to gravity and fell to the ground just behind him as he approached the dark girl.

Raven wasn't exactly sure what the terrible feeling that seemed to be ripping through her insides was, but she knew she didn't like it at all. Watching Beastboy beat down her friends and seemingly enjoy it was a horrible thing to witness. Where had her joking green friend gone? What could have happened to corrupt him so fast? How could this be actually happening? A single tear ran down her left cheek as she tried to find something, anything to say that would get him to come back from this madness.

"Why?" Was the only thing Raven managed to weakly say, still overwhelmed by shock. The smirk Beastboy was wearing quickly vanished, replaced by a fierce scowl, one that was leveled at her.

"So now you shed tears for me? How very touching." The changeling spat in disgust. "Unfortunately it's too late." Walking until he was an arm's length from Raven, Beastboy crouched down so he was eye-level with her. "You're a smart girl Raven, you should know who I'm going after next once I'm done with Trident."

"You can't...!"

"Oh I most definitely can." The red-skinned changeling placed a far from affectionate left hand on her left shoulder. "Sit tight, Trident won't take me long to take care of, then I'll be back to give you my full undivided attention." He gave Raven's shoulder a rough squeeze and then he was back on his feet. The dark girl knew she had to do something now, the killing intent was clear in Beastboy's eyes and if she didn't stop him here his rampage would continue to escalate. With speed born of desperation, Raven snatched her corrupted friend's left wrist in a deathgrip.

"Don't...!" She started to say, but stopped when she fully sensed the dark power within Beastboy. It felt as if a tidal wave of fire washed over her, burning everything until there was nothing but ashes. Instantly she recoiled, releasing the changeling from her grip, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Didn't like what you saw?" Beastboy asked her, eyes burning bright with magic power, Raven didn't respond to him, still shellshocked from what she had sensed.

"This...this can't be..." She whispered to herself, disbelieving, Beastboy merely snorted.

"Denial's never a good thing Raven." He told her, continuing to make his way deeper into Trident's lair, "If I were you, I'd leave this place." He finished coldly, Raven didn't respond, she continued to sit there, frozen in panic and fear as the changeling's footsteps grew more and more distant until she couldn't hear them at all.

It wasn't just the fire that had shocked the cloaked Titan, when she had grabbed Beastboy's wrist she got to really sense everything inside him. She expected his inner self to be struggling in a desperate battle with some sort of sinister being for control of his body. However, it was far from that. There was hardly any trace of Garfield in that body at all, only small bits and pieces that were not nearly enough to be a complete being. This realization was too much for Raven to bear.

For it meant that Garfield was truly gone, the only thing left was a being full of flames and darkness, ready to consume everything that stood in it's way.


	14. Save the Supervillian

**A/N: I apologize that this chapter took longer than usual to get out. I'll explain the reason why at the end of this chapter.**

**Thanks Shadico, Jon Frost and the guests for their reviews.**

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The Titans had seen better days, rare was it for the entire team to be knocked down and out, but it happened. For Starfire, her warrior's pride was wounded, but as she rose gingerly to her feet and gazed upon Raven's kneeling form, she realized her hurt pride must be nothing compared to her cloaked friend's pain at the moment. Although the dark girl tried to hide it, Beastboy was very important to Raven, though why she didn't let this be known was a mystery to the orange-skinned Titan. The Tamaranean made her way to Raven and knelt down in front of her, placing both of her hands on the pale girl's shoulders.

"Raven?" Starfire pried, but her friend was unresponsive, her eyes staring a thousand miles away. "Raven what's wrong?" The dark girl shuddered, the other Titans were starting to come to, and they gathered around the two girls.

"I don't know who that was we just faced." Raven finally answered quietly, her eyes wide with fear and something else.

"An imposter?" Robin inquired, rubbing the back of his head and feeling a bump there with his right hand.

"No, there are traces of Garfield, but they are too small to be anything significant." Raven answered, she shook her head at recalling what she had seen inside Beastboy. "Everything else is so warped and twisted that he…he might as well be a different person…"

Robin took inventory on his team, Cyborg had three deep gashes in his chest, the naked eye could see some of his delicate circuitry underneath. Aqualad's nose was definitely broke, a trail of blood flowing down the left nostril. Starfire seemed to be in the best shape out of all of them, having only a few scrapes and bruises. He himself might have a cracked rib and a minor concussion, Raven however was definitely in no condition to keep fighting. Her heart and mind were in complete disarray.

The masked Titan's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he thought of the best course of action to take. Raven couldn't be left alone in her current state, but they also couldn't allow Beastboy to run free. He was stronger now and worse, angry, a bad combination. His mind made up, he turned to his alien girlfriend.

"Starfire, look after Raven." He ordered. "The rest of us are going after Beastboy." Aqualad and Cyborg nodded their assent and together, the three male Titans took off deeper into the lair.

Tears began to well up in Raven's eyes as despair filled her, "It's hopeless! There's no saving him! I've seen it!" The cloaked girl's head was suddenly snapped to her left and she felt a stinging sensation on her right cheek. Surprised, she looked up to see Starfire's hard stare. The Tamaranean's open left hand just above her right shoulder, Raven couldn't believe it, Starfire had slapped her.

"You are a bad friend to believe that Raven." The orange-skinned Titan reprimanded, "There is always hope." Raven winced at hearing those words, but she knew the truth. She didn't know of any spell that could bring a person back from the exposure of dark magic that Beastboy had. There was almost nothing to work with.

"But Garfield…there's so little of him left in there." Raven informed her alien friend. Starfire shook her head and squeezed Raven's shoulders with her hands.

"As long as even a piece of him exists Raven, there's a chance." The Tamaranean replied, "Have you not been through this before with your father?" That brought the dark sorceress out of her downward spiral, she had prevailed over this sort of despair before!

"You're right." Raven responded, her face returning to its normal stoic mask, Starfire smiled at seeing her friend return to some semblance of her normal self. The cloaked Titan quickly assumed the lotus position, levitating a foot off the air. "I need a few moments to center myself, my emotions are a mess."

"Then what?" Starfire asked, Raven fixed her with an intense stare, her amethyst eyes seemed to almost be glowing.

"Then we get Beastboy back."

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Perfection, that's what Trident was, the perfect specimen. He was destined to be the one to rule over Atlantis and the surface world, but there were some beings who were too dense to see it, like the Titans. Time and time again they foiled his plans, the setbacks were piling up and they were beginning to frustrate him. Like this current one, he hadn't counted on the Titans thinking to look at his old lair and he certainly didn't count on them defeating his deformed clones so easily. He was currently typing at a console, standing on a raised stone platform that could only be accessed by 9 foot-wide stairs. The monitor was showing him that all his clones were unconscious and beaten. The seafaring villain growled and smashed his right fist onto the console, destroying it.

"You seem to be in a bad mood." An unfamiliar voice said from behind Trident, he turned around and was greeted by an unexpected sight. The changeling stood before him at the base of the stairs, not only alive and well, but sporting red skin instead of green, this was certainly unusual.

"The pointy-eared brat." Trident snorted, "You survived eh? What's the matter? Don't like green anymore?"

The red-skinned changeling merely shrugged, "Nah, it doesn't match my current mood." Trident was going to reply when he suddenly found himself unable to speak, courtesy of the hand wrapped around his throat. Beastboy stood before him, his right hand gripping the seafaring villain's neck, a malicious grin on the corrupted Titan's face. "Bloodthirsty!"

Without another word, Beastboy leapt into the air with Trident in tow. He tossed the supervillain to his left, putting as much strength into his right arm as he did it. Trident made a small crater in the ground when he impacted, just missing the raised platform with his body. It took the arrogant villain a couple moments to recover, both from the crash landing and the fact that the changeling was stronger now. The corrupted Titan landed a short distance to Trident's right, waiting patiently for his target's next move.

"Fool!" Trident called out, getting to his feet and facing Beastboy. "You think you can beat perfection!?" Brandishing the weapon he was named after and facing the three prongs towards the red-skinned changeling. He discharged an energy blast and the red-skinned Titan responded by swiftly waving his left hand horizontally from his right to his left, creating a wall of flame that absorbed the blast.

Beastboy smiled widely, "Oooh! Nice light show! You going to break into show business with that trick?" Trident almost cracked his teeth from clenching them so hard.

"Don't you dare mock me you little shrimp!" The water-aligned supervillain yelled, throwing his weapon like a javelin at the changeling. It sliced through the air at high speed and made a direct hit square in Beastboy's chest. The corrupted Titan was sent flying a good thirty feet before crashing onto his shoulder blades, sliding a short distance on his back before lying still, Trident's weapon still sticking in his chest. The supervillain grunted and made his way back up the stairs of his platform. "This time, stay dead." He called out to the downed Beastboy.

It was then that Trident heard something, a noise he shouldn't have been hearing at that moment. Laughter, sinister laughter filled his ears and he turned back around to see an impossible sight. The changeling's body glowing orange and hovering horizontally in mid-air. As Trident continued to watch, Beastboy's limp form rotated until the soles of his shoes were facing the ground and then the glow around him faded, letting the corrupted superhero land on his feet. The changeling doubled over, still laughing, and yanked the three-pronged spear out of his chest with both hands.

There wasn't a lot of blood, but Beastboy expected that, after all the weapon actually didn't puncture that deep. Trident did have a hell of an arm and he did knock him a good distance away from the sheer force of impact, but ultimately it did no more than break the skin on his left pectoral. The corrupted Titan smiled, he could definitely get used to this.

"Was that it?" Beastboy asked mockingly, "I think I've encountered fleas with more bite than you!" The red-skinned changeling gripped the weapon in his right hand. "Here, you can have this back." He said, flinging the three-pronged spear underhanded and almost matching the velocity of Trident's previous throw.

Fortunately for the aquatic supervillain, the blunt end of the spear rammed into his gut, only doubling him over rather than disemboweling him. Unfortunately for him Beastboy was right in his face again and Trident got a good look at the bloodlust in his eyes. The corrupted Titan performed an upward slash with his right claws, slashing three vertical lines across the villain's face. Trident screamed in agony and collapsed onto his back, holding his maimed face.

Beastboy was highly amused by this, "Heh, guess you're not so perfect anymore." He taunted, his fingers dripping with the villain's blood. Trident continued to roll back and forth on his back in a vain attempt to cope with the pain. The red-skinned changeling just continued to watch the downed villain as he placed his left hand on his chin. "Now, how should I finish you off?" He thought out loud, "Incineration? Or maybe dismemberment?" A sudden thought came to the corrupted Titan and he grinned at the irony. "No no. I've got just the thing." He stated, brandishing the claws at the tip of his right fingers once more. "Let's see if the perfect being can live with a hole in his chest!"

The maddened Beastboy took a few steps forward so that he was looming intimidatingly over Trident's supine form. His smile showed fangs as he reared his right hand back.

And then the wire wrapped around his neck.

Before the corrupted Titan could react, the yellow wire tightened around his throat and he found himself yanked off his feet so hard that he hovered a few inches above the steps on his way to the unforgiving stone floor at the base of the stairs. Barely a moment later a heavy weight crashed onto his chest, Beastboy looked up from his supine position into the barrel of a very familiar sonic cannon. Cyborg had him pinned, the bionic Titan's right knee resting on his abdomen while his left arm was in the form of his traditional sonic cannon. The metallic superhero's lips were set in a grim line.

"Sorry B, this is for your own good." Cyborg said. With frightening speed, Beastboy reached up with his right hand and placed his palm right on the barrel of the bionic Titan's cannon just as it fired. Orange flames traveled up Cyborg's left arm as he cursed, detaching his left arm to keep the flames from reaching the rest of his body, standing up in the process. Beastboy took this opportunity to grab the wire around his neck with his left hand in a solid grip, with one fast and hard tug, the wire snapped and curses from Robin filled his ears. Half a second later, the red-skinned changeling kicked hard at Cyborg's damaged sternum with his right foot, the sole of his shoe connected solidly with the metallic superhero's torso and Cyborg was knocked away with a surprised yelp.

"Good is overrated." Beastboy responded, but his former best friend could no longer hear him. He rose to his feet, but was instantly knocked off them again when a blast of water slammed into his right flank, sending him into the wall on his left.

"Hold him there Aqualad!" The corrupted Titan heard Robin shout. It looked like they recovered from the shock of his first attack pretty quickly, commendable, but futile. Beastboy pushed away from the wall he was being crushed against with his left hand, using his right to hold the large stream of water at bay.

Out of the corner of the changeling's eye he spotted Robin pull a disc out of his belt and fling it in his direction. The disc landed in Aqualad's waterstream and froze it. Unimaginable cold traveled up Beastboy's right arm and eventually permeated his entire body as he was frozen as well, unable to lift even a finger.

Aqualad relaxed his stance and began walking towards the frozen changeling, "Nice work, that should hold him." The Atlantean said, "Let me see if I can…" He trailed off as the telltale signs of cracking ice could be heard, Robin reacted quickly.

"Aqualad get back!" The masked Titan called out, but it was too late, in an explosion of ice shards and water vapor, Beastboy emerged from his cold prison. The corrupted Titan dove forward, grabbing Aqualad by his neck with his left hand. The dark-haired Atlantean only had time to let out a gurgled gasp as Beastboy's right fist collided with his jaw, sending the seafaring superhero flying backwards through the air. He landed more than sixty feet away in a heap, unmoving.

Robin cursed and tossed a birdarang at the ruby-skinned changeling's right side. The boy wonder was fast on the draw, but Beastboy was faster, catching the projectile firmly in his right hand with a flicker of movement. The corrupted superhero clenched his hand into a fist, shattering the birdarang and Robin braced himself for Beastboy's next move.

He didn't have to wait long as Beastboy inhaled a deep breath then exhaled a large volume of fire, engulfing the masked Titan in flames. Beastboy finished his exhale, smiling widely.

"A roasted bird. Yum." The corrupted Titan said, licking his lips. A section of the flames were suddenly swept away as Robin unwrapped himself from his fireproof cape.

"Not this time." The Titans' leader stated, tossing an electrodisc in Beastboy's direction. The changeling cursed and leapt over it.

Right into the path of another electrodisc.

Beastboy's eyes were as wide as saucers, he realized too late that Robin had baited him into jumping, moving him into a position where he wouldn't be able to react in time to dodge or block. The electrodisc collided with his chest and exploded, sending bolts of electricity coursing through his body. The corrupted Titan howled in torment, collapsing back down to the ground on his right side. He tried to get back to his feet, but could only manage to progress into a crouching position, his body still twitching from the high voltage it had just endured. Snarling in frustration, Beastboy knew he was at Robin's mercy now, he wouldn't be able to recover in time to defend himself against the masked Titan's next move.

Robin surprised him again, instead of finishing him off with another electrodisc or even an explosive one, the Boy Wonder chose to deliver a diving kick to his face. It hurt, it hurt a lot, especially as he was sent tumbling head-over-heels across the stone ground, slamming his head, shoulders, back and legs repeatedly into the unmoving surface. However, he was used to fighting through pain, he had been doing it most of his life, this would not be enough to finish him off.

The ruby-skinned changeling felt his backwards momentum slipping away and used the last of it to roll back to his feet. "Bad move boy blunder!" He called out, "That was your best shot at killing me." Robin extracted his staff in response, his stone-faced expression enough to do Batman proud.

"I'm not trying to kill you." The masked Titan replied, Beastboy snorted in disgust, he would've thought that out of all of his former friends Robin would have been the one with the spine to try and off him. Looks like he was wrong.

The corrupted Titan charged at the masked Titan, claws ready to slice him to pieces. Robin jabbed one end of his staff in the ground and pole-vaulted over Beastboy as he lashed out with his right claws, slicing the staff in half. Although off-balance, Robin was still able to land on his feet, stumbling a step or two and Beastboy took the opportunity to twist around and bring his left hand forward, firing a blast of fire from his left hand.

Robin's lips compressed in a grim line as he brought his cape up to take the blast. While it protected him from the fire, it could not defend him from the sheer force of the blast. The Boy Wonder felt his right arm go numb as he was sent sprawling into the ground, he fought the consciousness threatening to roll over him, but lost the battle and was overtaken by darkness.

Beastboy stared at his unconscious friend, the smile gone from his face. That had been close, a little too close, he should have known better than anyone not to underestimate the Titans. He was still getting used to his new power and until he did, he was vulnerable. The sound of footsteps trying to be stealthy reached his pointy ears and the changeling frowned.

Speaking of vulnerability.

He swiftly sidestepped to his right and a moment later a three-pronged spear stabbed at the empty air where his spine just was. An image of the spear impaled through him flashed through his mind and the corrupted Titan felt his blood boil with rage. He twisted around to face Trident, morphing into a sasquatch and lashed out with his left fist, seeking to punch the villain's head off.

Trident managed to duck under it, but the red sasquatch followed through with a right cross. The aquatic supervillain cursed and brought his spear in front of him in a horizontal position, trying to block the blow. The right fist of the sasquatch crashed into the handle of the spear and although it held, the power of the punch was enough to send him sailing back into a wall. The wind was knocked out of Trident as he bounced off the wall and collapsed face-first into the stone ground. A moment later some loose rocks dislodged themselves from where the villain had impacted and buried him.

The grin had returned to Beastboy's face as he admired his handiwork. That would knock the fight out of the aquatic bastard, now all he had to do was finish him off. He reverted back to his normal form and began walking towards the pile of rock Trident was buried under. He was about sixty feet away when twin green beams of energy sliced up the ground in front of him and the corrupted Titan was forced to stop.

Beastboy narrowed his eyes, something always had to get in his way, couldn't things go smooth for him just once? A familiar hum of dark energy reached his ears and he looked up just in time to see a large slab of rock the size of a semi-truck and encased in black energy dropping down towards his head.

"Son of a…." The changeling started but didn't get to finish as the large slab of rock landed on top of him, shooting up a huge cloud of dust and cracking the stone ground underneath it. Raven and Starfire landed in between Beastboy and the pile of rocks Trident was under. Defiant looks were on the two female Titans' faces as cracks spidered all over the large slab of rock. A second later it exploded, Raven's eyes glowed white as she erected a dome of dark energy around her and Starfire, protecting them from the fist-sized debris of stone as it shot all over the room.

Silence reigned in the area as a single column of smoke rose from the shattered remains of the boulder. As the smoke cleared the familiar figure of Beastboy rose slowly to his feet, head lowered. Raven's eyes returned to their normal amethyst color and the dome of black energy dissipated.

"There's the Raven I remember." Beastboy hissed, grinning from ear to ear.

"I never was a talker and words won't get through to your thick skull." The cloaked Titan replied, the changeling chuckled.

"So you've accepted the truth about me?" He asked, Raven narrowed her eyes in response.

"Don't misunderstand, I may not reach you verbally, but that just means I have to go to plan B." Beastboy raised an eyebrow at that.

"Plan B?" The corrupted Titan inquired.

"That's right, Plan B." Raven confirmed, "I'm going to knock some sense into you..." Her eyes began glowing white once more. "…And it's going to hurt, a lot."

Beastboy grunted, shrugging his shoulders, "Alright then." He said, dropping into a fighting stance. "Let's see what kind of pain you can inflict on me Raven."

The air in the room shifted as glowing orange and ivory eyes bored into each other. Starfire braced herself, things were about to get ugly.

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**A/N: Okay I have good news and bad news.  
**

**The good news is that this story is reaching it's conclusion, just the confrontation between Raven and Beastboy is left. **

**The bad news is that I had planned to do more, but I just don't have the time, all my free time is going into other projects and sadly writing these fics is the thing I have to give up for now. So I will finish this story in the next couple of weeks hopefully and if an opportunity presents itself I can try for "Act 2."**

**Thanks and I hope I've managed to entertain you readers so far.**


	15. The Raven and the Dragon

**A/N: These past 15 or so days I literally worked on this paragraph by paragraph when I had a spare minute. I apologize it took so long, but it's finally here.**

**For this chapter I was heavily inspired by the song "The Volge" From the Defiance game soundtrack. Look up "defiance the volge" on Youtube, it's the 3:51 long song if you're interested. Listened to that for the entire chapter except for the last part.**

**Review**** Responses**

**Shadico - The other stories I wrote are somewhat better to Beastboy and Raven, although they still have some epic struggles. I was actually thinking about writing a story between them that wasn't quite so "Fate of the world" and just more about them and their relationship. If I get time I may do that.  
**

**Jon Frost - Thank you for reading and reviewing it! In my head the story isn't over, but I know realistically with the time I have, finishing it would take forever. This chapter and the epilogue I feel is a good spot to end it, because if I do get time and inspiration, I can pick it back up and continue. Not leaving any promises, but leaving it open.**

**Ttitansgo - Well I was trying for a slightly darker tone, but I'm glad you enjoy the story.**

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Raven studied her enemy, and even now it still felt strange having that thought roll around in her head. Beastboy had been a sparring partner, a target for payback when he pranked her and even a good shoulder to cry on when the world inevitably screwed her over, but he had never been her enemy. She had only seen gentleness with a twinkle of mischief in his green eyes when he looked at her and in battle those green eyes would become focused on the task at hand. Staring into those eyes now however, was like staring into the eyes of a dragon.

That train of thought gave Raven pause, could Malchior somehow be responsible for Beastboy's current condition? But how? He was still locked away in that cursed book, how would he devise the means to corrupt Garfield like this?

There was no more time for thought as Beastboy struck first. Firing a thick blast of orange flame from the palms of his hands. Raven mirrored his stance and responded with a blast of her own. Black and orange energies clashed between them, dust and pebbles were picked up from the shockwave and sent around the large room like angry bees looking for something to sting. Raven felt some of them strike her face, but she ignored them, pouring more energy into her blast.

The dark Titan turned her head slightly to her left to see Starfire there, waiting for her signal, there was no time to be discreet, "Starfire Go!" Raven called out. The Tamaranean princess nodded and flew to the pile of rubble that Trident was buried under. Quickly she dug up the unconscious supervillain and threw him over her shoulder, taking flight and making for the exit.

Seeing this, Beastboy growled, pouring more power into his blast. Raven did her best to hold, but in the end the changeling was too strong, she slid backwards steadily and managed to cancel out the rest of Beastboy's blast by forming a quick shield in front of her. The clashing energies between them finally dissipated.

The corrupted Titan pounced upon the reeling Raven, slashing diagonally down from right to left with his right hand at the cloaked girl. She quickly floated to her left and felt the breeze from the swing caress her face. Beastboy followed through with a horizontal slash from his left hand, but once again Raven was nimble enough to levitate backwards and avoid it. The dark Titan frowned, dodging wasn't going to win her this battle, she needed to counterattack.

Raising her hands above her head, Raven brought forth her powers and summoned a chunk of rock from the wall behind her. The chunk was easily the size of an SUV and with an overhead throwing motion with both of her hands it sped towards Beastboy's head. The ruby-skinned changeling was undeterred and reared his right hand back, balling it into a fist, orange power glowing from it. He struck the rock with his fist, shattering it into many pieces, the punch was so powerful that the shockwave hit Raven in the chest like an invisible sledgehammer. She flew backwards, her arms and legs parallel to the ground as she impacted the wall, shooting forth a plume of dust that obscured her form.

Beastboy wasted no time and immediately ran for Starfire, as much as he would like to stick around and let off some more of his frustration on Raven, he couldn't let that bastard Trident get away. Closing the distance between himself and the alien Titan in record time, the changeling reached up and grabbed Starfire's left ankle with his left hand. She let out a surprised "Eep." And he smiled triumphantly

"Sorry Star." The corrupted Titan apologized, "But I'm not about to let you get away with my would-be murderer."

The Tamaranean princess' eyes glowed green as righteous fury filled her. Beastboy was her friend, but she wasn't going to let him continue down his dark path if she could do something about it. Kicking out with her free leg, Starfire hoped to land a solid boot to the ruby-skinned changeling's face. Instead what happened was that Beastboy blocked the kick with his right forearm.

Moving swiftly, the corrupted Titan gripped both of Starfire's ankles and swung her around. Slamming her face-first into the wall near him. He felt her body jerk from the impact and Trident's unconscious form fell from her shoulder. Beastboy released his grip on her ankles and let her fall unceremoniously to the ground as well. The alien girl lay on her back, her emerald-colored eyes closed and a nasty bruise on her forehead.

A glint of metal caught Beastboy's eye and he stepped over Starfire's body to get a closer look. It was Trident's weapon, the three-pronged spear he was named after. It lay a short distance from the downed supervillain like a sign from the gods. Daring the corrupted changeling to go through with his brutal decision.

Without hesitation, Beastboy walked over to the embedded weapon, gripped it with his left hand and freed it from the ground with one sharp tug. A smile pulled at his lips as he hefted the weapon, oh yes, it was a very fitting end for the son of a bitch, a taste of his own medicine. He raised the spear in his hand, aiming for the back of Trident's skull. The spear was just beginning to descend when Beastboy felt something grip his left arm and hold it in place. A quick examination of his affected limb revealed that it was held by dark energy. The changeling immediately turned his head and cast a sideways glare behind him, Raven was kneeling, several small rips and tears in her hood, cloak and leotard. She had her right hand stretched out, her face full of determination as she strained to keep her hold on his arm with her powers.

"Really Raven? You're still trying to protect him?" Beastboy asked, his eyes narrowing at her, "The guy who would have killed me?"

"I'm not just protecting him Garfield. I'm protecting you as well!" Raven replied, the corrupted Titan raised an eyebrow at this.

"Funny, because that's not what I'm seeing right now." Beastboy said, despite the dark energy encasing his left arm, the spear inched closer to the back of Trident's skull. Raven grunted and brought her spare hand forward, putting forth every fiber, every inch of her being to stop her crazed friend.

The spear inched closer.

The dark girl grit her teeth, sweat began to bead on her forehead, but she was making no progress, her only solace was the fact that Beastboy seemed to be having difficulty as well. A frown crossed the ruby-skinned changeling's lips.

Still the spear drew closer, now less than an inch from Trident's head.

"Damn it Gar!" Raven snapped, losing her composure. "If you do this there's no going back!"

"I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK!" The corrupted Titan snapped back, his composure breaking down as well. Raven was about to reply when something solid slammed into her ribs, knocking her onto her back and sliding her a good distance away. Beastboy looked at her with disgust on his face, his hand still outstretched from when he hit her. "Why would I want to go back to your constant ridicule? To always be looked down upon by all of you? Telling those stupid jokes day after day, just thinking about it is enough to make me sick." He said, beginning to walk towards Raven slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. "Tell me Raven, why in god's name should I go back to that?"

Raven didn't answer right away, instead she brought herself to her hands and knees first. The cloaked Titan took several moments to get air back in her lungs before looking Beastboy right in the eye.

"We never looked down on you." She answered, her trademark glare on her hooded face as she extended her right hand and fired a giant claw made from dark energy towards the red-skinned changeling. Beastboy merely stepped to his left and slashed the dark claw in half with his own sharp appendages, the glare in his eyes matching Raven's

"Liar!" He roared, making a vertical slicing motion from top to bottom with his hands. Two vertical waves of orange energy burst forth from his hands and slid across the ground towards Raven. They were moving too fast for the cloaked Titan to throw up any defense and the two blades of energy scored direct hits on her, each one cutting into her collarbone on both sides. Raven cried out in pain as she was once again thrown back, feeling her own blood travel down her body from the wounds she just received.

The dark girl gripped her injured collarbone with her hands, gritting her teeth so that she wouldn't give Beastboy the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain. He was too strong, she would not be able to defeat him one-on-one, but then again she wasn't trying to. All she needed to do was keep him away from Trident. A plan began to form in Raven's mind, a desperate one. To keep Beastboy away from Trident she needed distance, and she might have a way to create a lot of distance between the two, if she didn't screw up the spell. Slowly, carefully, Raven began to gather her power around herself.

Beastboy began walking towards her, "Even after everything we've been through, all the battles we fought side-by-side, the comfort we shared with each other…." He ranted, his hands clenched tightly into fists. "…in the end, you always looked at me as the bottom of the barrel, the one you went to when there was no Robin or Aqualad around." The corrupted Titan's glowing eyes intensified as a deep frown crossed his lips, "I was always your last choice."

"Nothing could be further from the truth." Raven quickly replied, his words stabbed at her heart.

"Actions speak louder than words." Beastboy stated, "And your recent actions have made it clear how you really feel."

Raven felt like cold water was splashed on her face, her infatuation with Aqualad was coming back to bite her at the worst of times. The cloaked girl mentally berated herself for throwing years of friendship with one of her closest friends down the drain to try and get the attentions of one man she hardly knew, albeit he was a pretty one. She shook her head at that last thought, had she really become so shallow?

Beastboy extended his right hand, palm facing the dark girl, "I'm through talking with you." He said coldly, "All I want from you now is to disappear." Raven tensed, she wasn't even sure if this spell would work, but she had to try, it was now or never.

As the ruby-skinned changeling fired his blast, Raven phased through the ground. The top of her head had barely sunk into the ground when the scalding flames of Beastboy's spell scorched the area she was just standing in. The dark Titan reappeared at his back while he frantically searched in front of him with his eyes. Raven wasted no more time as she spread her cloak wide and wrapped it around him, words of power cascaded from her lips as she begun to release all the power she had gathered in order to trigger the spell. The cloaked girl felt Beastboy begin to struggle within the confines of her cloak and she willed herself to speak the incantation faster. Her efforts were rewarded as she felt the teleportation spell trigger, with a grim smile, Raven pulled herself and Beastboy into another dimension.

***********(Scene**** Break)************

Azarath. Well, close enough anyway.

It was the only place Raven could think of on short notice that was far away with no people in sight that Beastboy could murder.

Besides herself.

The spell the cloaked sorceress had used would have worked better if she had access to some reagents, but she didn't and so instead of teleporting right into the heart of Azarath, they were floating in the space before the once-grand city. Debris from the giant rock platform the city rested on sprinkled the light-blue area, varying in size from a small vehicle to a small building.

Raven felt Beastboy finally pull free from the confines of her cloak, crashing into a floating rock below her. The sudden violent separation caused her to lose control of her flight and she fell onto another floating boulder right across from his. The two Titans staggered to their feet, glaring at each other, Raven took a few deep breaths to compose herself.

"I won't allow you to ruin your life by committing murder." The dark sorceress told the changeling.

"You're too late Raven. My life has been ruined ever since that green monkey bit me all those years ago." He replied, a moment of sadness crossed his features before reverting to his angry mask. "I was too stupid to realize it until now."

Beastboy was suddenly airborne and coming down towards Raven fast, his right foot extended. The cloaked Titan quickly levitated to her right, narrowly avoiding the changeling crashing down right on top of her. As he stood up, Raven used her powers to pull the corrupted Titan towards her. She saw the surprise in his eyes as she planted her right boot into his gut, sending him flying back. Beastboy landed on his right side near the edge of the floating rock they were occupying, a slight groan escaping his lips.

"It's never too late Garfield." Raven pleaded, hoping beyond hope that she could get through to him. "Turn back, please!" There was only hatred in Beastboy's eyes as he glared at her.

"No." He said simply, rising to a crouching position and scoring a direct hit to Raven's chest with a blast of energy. The dark Titan was knocked off the floating rock they were standing on, but she quickly righted herself in mid-air, extending both of her hands forward.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She chanted and a wall of obsidian energy exploded from her hands and slammed into the ruby-skinned changeling, knocking him into the side of another floating rock. Raven quickly extended her right hand to her right, engulfing a nearby chunk of rock with her power, with a grunt she threw it at Beastboy. The corrupted Titan was still embedded in the side of the floating rock and could do nothing but watch as the black energy-encased rock smashed into him, sandwiching him between the two boulders. Raven let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, that should hold him.

A section of the rock suddenly exploded and a thick beam of orange energy made a beeline straight for the dark girl. Raven just barely got her shield up in time as the beam washed over it. So much for holding him. The corrupted Titan glared with murderous intent so thick you could slice through it with a knife. Blood trailed down his face from his right nostril and the left side of his mouth and there were a few tears in his costume, but he ignored it, instead focusing on the dark girl before him.

With the boulder no longer obstructing his view, Beastboy opened his mouth wide and breathed a huge volume of fire at the cloaked sorceress. Raven's reflexes were superb and she immediately took flight to her right, the corrupted Titan trailed her with the flames though, catching the edge of the grey-skinned girl's cloak with them. She grit her teeth, if she stayed in the open any more then she would be fried. Raven quickly made for a nearby floating rock and phased through it, a moment later the rock was scorched by Beastboy's flames.

The ruby-skinned changeling waited for the girl to reappear, but his patience was not rewarded. As he continued to search for Raven a portal opened up at a floating rock behind him and out emerged the half-demon sorceress, minus her cloak as the flames had burned it. She noticed that Beastboy still had yet to find her and took a moment to re-think her current strategy.

Beating Beastboy through brute force wasn't going to happen. While Raven felt she was holding her own so far, her body couldn't keep up with the brutal shots they were exchanging. If this continued for much longer, she would be the one to give out and any chance of redeeming Beastboy would be lost. There had to be a way to get through that thick skull of his! Deciding not to waste more time, Raven took flight, intending to flank Beastboy from behind and to his right. She gained line of sight of his position and readied a blast of dark energy.

There was no one there.

As soon as that thought registered she felt something heavy slam into her back, sending her spiraling down towards another floating rock. The dark girl tried to use her arms to take the brunt of the impact and they did, but she still found the left side of her face bouncing against the unmoving stone of the floating boulder, the rest of her body crashed down onto the hard surface and she actually bounced a foot in the air before collapsing back down into a prone position. Despite the pain she was in, Raven began dragging herself back to her feet, she would keep fighting until she couldn't move anymore, she owed Beastboy that much.

"Why do you bother to keep fighting?" Beastboy's voice sounded from above her. "The Beastboy you know is dead and he's never coming back."

Raven rubbed the left side of her face, trying to get some feeling back in it, she watched the changeling out of the corner of her eye. "I don't believe that." The corrupted Titan laughed in response.

"What you believe, it's…how did you always put it?" Beastboy inquired, a hand rubbing his chin in mock-thought for a moment before his eyes lit up, "Oh yeah." He fixed Raven with an evil grin. "It's pointless."

The ruby-skinned changeling leapt down from his perch above Raven, his right fist cocked back and ready to smash something. The grey-skinned sorceress waved her right hand from left to right horizontally and created a wall of energy. Beastboy's fist slammed off of it and he bounced away, landing at the edge of the floating boulder they were on to Raven's right.

"There's still a remnant of the Garfield I know in you!" The dark girl exclaimed, the corrupted Titan spat in disgust.

"Must be a small remnant then because I don't notice it!" He shouted, charging at Raven and performing a horizontal slash with his left claws. The dark Titan ducked under the swing and answered with a right hook to Beastboy's jaw. He twisted with the punch and spun around in a full rotation, crouching low and executing a legsweep with his right leg. Raven jumped over the changeling's leg, but Beastboy continued spinning, this time lashing out with his right fist in a spinning backhand as he completed another rotation. The sorceress felt like the right side of her face was hit by a truck as the corrupted Titan's fist made contact, the blow ended up twisting her around so that her back was facing Beastboy.

Fire bloomed from Raven's back as she felt the changeling's claws sink into the flesh, she also felt the back part of her leotard rip away, exposing her lower back. The dark girl fell forward from the force of Beastboy's attack, managing to barely keep her face from kissing rock with her hands. The corrupted Titan closed his hands into fists, they began glowing with power.

"Are you really ready to die, believing in a lie?" He asked her, eyes narrowing as he awaited her response. Raven didn't even turn to look at him, her head was lowered and she was breathing heavily.

"Ready and willing." The sorceress replied in a steely tone, Beastboy's eyes narrowed, he wasn't expecting her to be so determined. He thought she would be crushed when she seen what she had done to him, what she had set into motion and at first she was, but now she was fighting like losing would be the end of the world. Beastboy could count the amount of times on one hand when Raven fought this hard, her resistance was admirable, but like all good things, it had to come to an end.

Bending his knees, the corrupted Titan sprang high into the air above the grey-skinned sorceress. Raising his hands above his head, Beastboy brought them down in front of him and fired two blasts from his hands. The first was a standard beam of energy, but the second was different, it wrapped around the first coiling around it like a snake.

Raven looked up and saw the combined blasts heading towards her, she raised her hands, encased in her dark energy. An ordinary barrier wouldn't cut it against a concentrated beam like that, she'd have to reinforce it. The sorceress' speed at spellweaving was put to the test as she quickly constructed layer after layer of energy to protect her.

She managed to get four layers when Beastboy's combined beam crashed down on her shield. Raven strained hard to keep her shield intact and was surprised when she felt the ground beneath her give way. As she fell into empty air, she saw two halves of the floating rock she was standing on drift in front of her. The dark girl couldn't help but be impressed, that was one strong blast.

Beastboy's blast expired and Raven heaved a sigh of relief, a few more seconds and she wouldn't have been able to keep the shield up any longer. The changeling growled in frustration and released another blast of energy from his right hand, this one not as strong as his previous one, but still deadly. Using her powers, Raven moved the two halves of rock floating in her field of vision in front of her, one stacked on top of the other. Her makeshift barrier held against his blast, at least for now.

"I know what happens to people who go down the dark path you've chosen!" Raven shouted, "And I won't let it happen to you Garfield! Even if it means giving up my life to get through that hard head of yours!" She felt the first half of the rock shatter, the second half was the only thing holding back her fiery death now.

"You don't think I'll do it, do you?" Beastboy shouted back.

"No I don't!"

"Well let me shatter that little theory of yours right now." The changeling said, pouring more power into his blast. Raven felt herself giving more and more ground, her current strategy wasn't working, it was time to change tactics.

Using her left hand to keep Beastboy's blast at bay, the dark sorceress used her remaining hand to move the last half of the boulder out of the beam's path. Conjuring up two hands of dark energy to grip the flat slab of stone, Raven used it to swat the corrupted Titan away. The slab of stone collided with Beastboy's left flank, sending him to his right, he sailed through the air for a short distance before crashing into the side of yet another floating rock.

Frustration boiled in the ruby-skinned changeling's veins. Every time he thought he had Raven down and out she proved him wrong. Had she always been this resourceful?

Was she proving that he was on the wrong path?

His eyes narrowed at that thought, no way in hell he was wrong. He refused to go back to that little green runt who told bad jokes to some blasted goth girl who didn't give a damn. It wasn't even a life, it was a sad and pathetic existence. Nothing like what he had now.

Growling in frustration, Beastboy dislodged himself from the rock he got slammed into, jumping on top of it. He noticed Raven rapidly closing the distance between them and plunged his right arm into the floating boulder he was on. The corrupted Titan began pumping energy into the center of the boulder, the little goth girl was close now, less than 150 feet he surmised. Exerting his muscles, Beastboy threw the giant floating boulder like a bowling ball. Raven saw it coming and expertly maneuvered to her right to avoid the large projectile, just what he wanted her to do.

As soon as the boulder was directly to Raven's left, Beastboy closed his hand into a fist and the boulder exploded. The dark girl almost blacked out from her close proximity to the explosion as she was sent tumbling through the air, unable to get her bearings. She closed her eyes in an effort to help with the dizziness she felt from all the spinning and with a monumental effort managed to stop her impromptu flight.

Opening her eyes again, Raven saw Beastboy speeding towards her like a bullet. He slammed his left shoulder into her abdomen as he wrapped both of his arms around her waist, heading right for the ruined city of Azarath. The two Titan's crashed into one of the deserted streets like a comet forming a crater the size of a small parking lot. Somehow the two had become separated from the crash and they shakily made it back to their feet.

"The Garfield I know would be horrified at what he was doing right now." Raven stated, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Likewise, Beastboy was also breathing hard.

"And this is supposed to convince me not to kill you, how?" The corrupted Titan inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I know deep down that you love me." Raven said, her eyes growing wet. "And I love you."

Beastboy's eyes widened for a moment and he felt something deep within his heart. It was annoying and he ruthlessly tried to suppress it, but it was proving difficult. He closed his eyes and frowned as the inner turmoil turned into a full on war.

Raven watched Beastboy with baited breath. Her confession was her trump card, her last weapon she had to bring the changeling out of the darkness. She mentally berated herself, she should have let him know a long time ago how she felt about him, but she had taken him and their time together for granted and now he may be lost to her forever.

Beastboy re-opened his eyes, his face was an unreadable neutral mask as he extended his right arm, the hand open as if to take hers and the sorceress felt her heart grow light with joy.

And then the changeling closed his hand into a fist.

"I don't need love Raven." Beastboy replied, his voice colder than the arctic winds. "What I need, is more power."

Raven felt her heart shatter into a million pieces, her trump card had failed, he was too far gone. The dark magic had too strong a hold on him, there was only one way to stop him now. Tears flowed from the dark girl's eyes as they began to glow their signature white color.

"I can't allow that." She said, her voice her usual perfect monotone, the complete opposite of what her internal state of mind was. Dark energy coalesced above her to form a giant raven, Beastboy mirrored her action, letting orange flames gather above him to form a dragon that rivaled the size of her magically constructed bird. The two Titans continued their stare down for a few moments before simultaneously charging each other, their large animal constructs copying their actions.

The raven and the dragon clashed in a brilliant display of power, bathing all of ruined Azarath in a brilliant light.

And then it was over.

*************(Scene Break)************

**A/N: Who won the fight? well that's what the epilogues for! Hopefully I can get it out in reasonable time.  
**

**Thank you all for reading and a special thanks to those that review.**


	16. The First Act Concludes

**A/N: Well this is the end of the first act, I'd say this is a good time for a hiatus with just a single review for last chapter. Thanks to everyone that has been reading and following it. There is a possibility that I'll come back to this in the future, that all depends on what kind of free time I will have.**

**Take it easy and enjoy.**

************Scene Break*************

Azarath was a decimated city, broken towers and crumbling buildings littered its skyline. The clash between the giant magically constructed raven and dragon was like kicking its corpse. A large smoking crater now stood within the city like an unwanted blemish. Within that crater were two figures, as the smoke cleared it became clear that one of the figures was standing and one had fallen.

Beastboy stood over the unconscious Raven, struggling to catch his breath. He had been in non-stop battles for hours and even with the power he absorbed from defeating his enemies fatigue was setting in. The massive amount of magic energy he just released didn't help either.

This was it, this was what he had fought so hard for, to see Raven devastated and beaten, to pay for how she mistreated him. All those insults, the way she easily dismissed him, how she could get under skin so easily. It wouldn't happen to him again, he was free of her torment.

And yet, he couldn't find it within himself to feel elated, all the red-skinned changeling felt was drained.

Why was he hesitating? He extended his right arm, one blast, one little blast and she would be gone. Raven would be out of his hair forever and he could go on with his quest for power, the other half of Malchior's power was still sealed in the book at the tower and he aimed to get it. Beastboy tried to fire a blast at the dark-haired girl lying on the ground with her eyes closed, but nothing happened. It wasn't that he was out of magic energy, something in his head was preventing him from going through with it. He stared at Raven's unconscious face, a strand of her violet hair fell between her eyebrows and he fixated on it, she looked so peaceful.

A deep frown crossed his face, Raven did mention that there was a remnant of the old Garfield inside him. During the battle he denied feeling it, but it definitely was making its presence known now. He tried again and again to fire a blast at the unconscious girl, but nothing happened. Beastboy snarled in frustration as he turned his back on her and began to walk away. It was clear there were some things he had to sort out in his head first, but when he did, he would finish what he started.

************Scene Break***********

Raven had been in the tower's infirmary many times, being a part of a superhero group meant you dealt with super-powered villains and that meant a lot of injuries. Bruises, cuts, broken bones, she dealt with it all, usually with Cyborg's help. It was rare that she was in there as a patient, between her tendency to keep a distance in battle and her half-demon physiology, Raven usually didn't become injured enough to warrant a visit there. However the attacks that she had taken from Beastboy were quite powerful, they were also quite painful.

The dark girl opened her eyes and sat up in her hospital bed, looking out the window to her left. It was daytime, which meant she had been in her healing meditation all night. She was clad only in a hospital gown, not that there was much left of her costume anyway after her battle with Beastboy. Still, she always felt more secure with her cloak, without it she felt vulnerable.

Why was she still alive? Why had Beastboy spared her? Had she got through to him somehow? She shook her head, there were too many questions. The sorceress reached out with her empathic powers in slight hope that she would sense Beastboy in the tower, but her hope was in vain. He was gone and Raven felt a numbness she had never felt before as it struck home.

The sound of the infirmary door sliding open reached her ears and she turned her attention to it to see her friends, Robin, Starfire and Cyborg walk in. They all wore solemn looks on their faces and more than a few scrapes and bruises with the exception of Cyborg, who must've repaired himself overnight. Starfire walked up to Raven and gave the smaller girl a surprisingly gentle hug.

"Raven, it is good to see you are recuperating nicely." The Tamaranean princess said, the sorceress gave her friend a weak pat on the back and the two separated. Cyborg was checking the scanner on his right forearm.

"Looks like your dark powers did the trick again little lady." The bionic Titan reported, "You should be up to your usual bookworming ways by tomorrow."

Robin gave her a small smile and a slight nod, "Good to see you'll make a full recovery Raven." He said to her. The violet-haired girl returned her attention to the window.

"Yeah it's a shame we're one person short now…" Raven stated sadly, an awkward silence filled the infirmary.

"Do not blame yourself for failing to stop Beastboy." Starfire said, finally breaking the awkwardness, "He is…troubled."

"And strong." Cyborg added, rubbing his chest where the changeling had sliced through. "The little grass stain was slicing through me like I was made of tinfoil." Robin frowned and crossed his arms.

"Beastboy has become dangerous. If left unchecked, he might decide to turn his aggression on the city. We have to be ready for that." He informed them.

Raven didn't turn away from the window, but she nodded. "I know, I just…." The sorceress shook her head and sighed, "…I never imagined it would ever turn out like this…"

"None of us did." Cyborg said softly, trying to be reassuring. Raven returned her gaze to her friends.

"Where's Aqualad?" She asked.

"He has returned to Atlantis." Starfire answered, Raven's eyes narrowed.

"Shocking…" The dark girl stated dryly, getting up from her hospital bed and opening a nearby shelf, where a fresh cloak, leotard and boots were located, she took the costume and began to get dressed. Robin raised an eyebrow.

"Where are you off to?" He questioned.

"I need to fortify my room." Raven replied, Cyborg scratched his head.

"Uh, why do you need to do that?" The metallic Titan inquired, Raven had finished putting on the cloak and leotard and was in the process of putting on her boots.

"There are many items of magical power in there." The grey-skinned sorceress responded. "Power is what Beastboy wants, he may decide to come after it." Her boots now in place, Raven made her way for the infirmary's exit.

"Raven." Robin's voice stopped her just short of the door. The masked Titan hesitated a moment before continuing, "We may have to deal with the fact that Beastboy can't be saved. If that proves to be true…." Raven knew what he was getting at, if Beastboy proved too great a danger to the city and its innocent inhabitants, he would have to be put down…permanently.

"I'll do what I have to." She told him in her trademark monotone, leaving the infirmary.

************Scene** **Break************

A run-down mansion on the outskirts of Jump City. Beastboy remembered reading the report about some connected mobster that used to dwell here, that was before the hitman squad shot up the place and riddled the mobster with bullets. The place definitely could use some dusting, and intact windows and furniture, but for now it would do.

The changeling sat in the study with a large and comfortable leather chair, one of the only pieces of furniture left in the house. An overturned desk lay in front of him and various bulletholes sprinkled the walls. His head was bowed and his eyes were closed as he delved deeply into his thoughts. He had told Raven that the old Beastboy was dead, but who was he now? Taking Malchior's power had turned him into something new, but what was that something? The only thing he knew for sure right now was that he wanted more power. His eyes opened, glowing orange and pupil-less as his eyebrows furrowed into a glare.

A lot more power.

************Scene Break************

**A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who followed this, especially the ones who reviewed, it's always a huge motivating factor for me. Until next time!  
**


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